Quality Improvement and Care Coordination
Beginning in January 2023, Gina Anderson, Telligen Program Specialist, assisted the University of Iowa Post-Acute Care Collaborative (PACC), a network of 15 nursing homes that meet monthly to discuss improvement initiatives, learn best practices and share successes, in a quality improvement project on improving rehospitalization rates. Attendees of the monthly meetings include nursing home administrators, directors of nursing and other leadership members around the Iowa City area. Each month, Anderson provided education on quality improvement methodology and presented attainable action items for the group. Anderson developed team charters, performed root cause analysis, discussed interventions and walked members through the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle.
Outcomes
Through this quality improvement project, PACC members identified drivers leading to rehospitalizations and used data to improve processes. For example, Solon Retirement Village experienced positive outcomes through their performance improvement project (PIP) to decrease hospitalizations. Their key driver was urinary tract infections (UTIs), and they set a SMART goal to reduce UTIs on the CASPER facility level report from 7.7% to 2.9% or below.
Initially, Solon Retirement Village exceeded their goal for several months by achieving a rate of 1.9%, and from July 1 – December 31, 2023, that number stabilized to 3%. This incredible achievement was a result of meaningful improvements such as expanded teamwork, new ideas, enhanced communication and a positive impact with the activity director.
Feedback
The PACC monthly meetings are led by Lori Cooling, University of Iowa Associate Director of Post-Acute Care, who said, “I have worked in both the acute and post-acute care settings which has provided me with a strong understanding regarding the importance of quality improvement in the care continuum. This helps me to especially appreciate the post-acute care facilities that work continuously to improve the care provided and deserved by our seniors. The added knowledge and tools from Telligen are incredibly instrumental to support best practices and guide improvements with this group.”
Scott Maiers, Community Relations Director at Solon Retirement Village and PACC member, felt the positive effects at his facility.
“Participating in the University of Iowa PACC and Telligen monthly meetings was extremely beneficial in our quality improvement plan. The tools and resources provided have been integral in helping us identify strategies for success. I would highly recommend other nursing homes utilize these processes to improve their 5-Star ratings!”