Administrative Memos

200609

FROM: Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer
DATE: Dec 21, 2006
SUBJECT: Acute Care Hospitalization Initiative
IPRO CONTACTS:

Sara Butterfield, RN, BSN, CPHQ, CCM, Upstate Director, HCQIP, (800) 233-0360 Ext. 104

As you know, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified the utilization of acute care hospitalization as a national priority measure for the home health provider setting in the 8th Scope of Work. Improvement in the acute care hospitalization outcome measure is demonstrated by a decrease in the percentage of avoidable acute care hospitalizations at the individual agency level.

In support of this initiative, IPRO has been collaborating with all New York State home health providers and industry stakeholders to promote transformational change through implementation of systems and process changes targeting assessment of high-risk patients, promotion of patient self-management skills and care management strategies to improve care transitions and communication across the healthcare continuum.

This ongoing collaboration has clearly identified the importance of senior leadership support of this initiative as a high priority at the individual agency level. The attached summary information provides your agency's performance on the acute care hospitalization quality measure compared with other agencies, and estimates the potential cost savings that may be realized through reduction of avoidable acute care hospitalizations. This information supplements the Agency Trend Reports forwarded on a monthly basis to the IPRO HCQIP Liaison for your agency.

The IPRO Home Health Project Team is available to provide consultation and technical assistance to your agency to achieve improvement in the acute care hospitalization quality measure. If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact Sara Butterfield at 1-800-233-0360 Ext.104 or Christine Stegel at 1-800-233-0360 Ext. 113.

We look forward to your participation in this important quality initiative. Working together, we can have a significant impact on the health and quality of care provided to patients receiving home health care services in New York State!