Making Michigan Health Care Safer, Better and More Effective
October 26, 2021
National Healthcare Quality Week is a time to recognize the advances made among health care professionals and researchers toward improving health outcomes, including one of the nation’s largest, most successful quality collaborations right here in Michigan. Through the Value Partnerships portfolio of programs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has partnered with hospitals and physicians across the state in initiatives that have improved clinical quality, efficiency, and health outcomes; saved lives; and prevented over $2.2 billion in health expenses. “Nearly […]
September 2, 2021
For patients with heart disease, participation in an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular readmission and death, and improved quality of life. Yet nationally the rate of referral to a cardiac rehab program after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has remained suboptimal; between 60 and 70 percent over the past […]
Lessons Learned from MI-COVID19 Initiative Influence Care & Treatment Protocols Statewide
June 30, 2021
As patients became seriously ill with COVID19 in the spring of 2020, emergency departments and hospitals around the state were quickly filling up. Yet, at the time, much was unknown about this virus and how to treat it. Fortunately, in Michigan, the Collaborative Quality Initiative structure offered a foundational process that quickly enabled hospitals statewide […]
PCMH program adds capabilities to address health care disparities in the LGBTQ+ community
May 27, 2021
For the first time, the Patient-Centered Medical Home Interpretive Guidelines include capabilities focused on LGBTQ+ inclusion. Because PCMH practitioners play a vital role in delivering foundational patient-centered care, it is imperative to add policies and processes that support LGBTQ+ inclusion and address health disparities and equity issues. An estimated 4 percent of Michigan adults identify […]
Value Partnerships featured in national ABIM Building Trust initiative
May 24, 2021
The Value Partnerships portfolio is featured as a trust-building practice in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Building Trust Initiative, launched this month. The initiative recognizes the importance of trust in health care as essential to better collaboration among health professionals and better health outcomes for patients. Through the BuildingTrust.org website, ABIM is sharing trust-building […]
Anesthesiology CQI reduces greenhouse gas emissions
April 1, 2021
The Anesthesiology Performance Improvement and Reporting Exchange CQI, or ASPIRE, aims to improve the quality of care and outcomes for patients receiving anesthesia. Now, participants are focusing on improving population health as they help the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “We often forget that providing health care can generate great amounts of waste and pollution, causing disease […]
Continuous Learning Through Peer Review Makes Angioplasty and Stenting Better in Michigan
March 9, 2021
If you receive an angioplasty at a Michigan facility, you might take comfort in knowing that the team performing the procedure participates in a statewide quality improvement initiative called the BMC2. It’s also likely that the interventional cardiologists who perform the angioplasty have received feedback from their peers, helping them learn and share best practices […]
March 1, 2021
Years ago when atherectomy was introduced as an option to remove plaque in the arteries, the hope was that it would be a less costly option because the procedure could be performed in an outpatient setting. In Michigan, other artery-opening methods of balloon and stent angioplasty must be done in a hospital that has an […]
Mi-COVID19 registry earns national recognition
January 18, 2021
The Collaborative Quality Initiative program was recently awarded the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s Fast Network Best Practice Prize, for the rapid development and implementation efforts of the Mi-COVID19 registry. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan demonstrated the effectiveness of CQI programs in rapidly bringing together providers across the state to implement quality improvement […]
Tom Leyden Receives National Health Care Leadership Award
December 2, 2020
One of the strengths of the Value Partnerships platform is the collaborative atmosphere among participants and Blue Cross. And one of the primary people guiding this collaborative atmosphere for the past 13 years has been Tom Leyden, Value Partnerships director. So it was fitting to see Tom recognized with the Primary Care Community Leadership/Research Award […]