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Improving Health In Populations and Communities

Prevention

As the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Colorado, CFMC will support one of the major goals of the US Department of Health and Human Services' National Quality Strategy, better health for people and communities. Specifically, we will assist primary care physicians in improving preventive services, including immunizations, screenings and cardiovascular care for the Medicare population.

CFMC will assist physician practices to use their electronic health record (EHR) to improve preventative services and cardiac health measures and report those quality measures to CMS. CFMC is also working in partnership with the Colorado Regional Extension Center (CoREC), to promote health IT integration into clinical practice.

Specific areas of work include:

Improving four preventive services: flu immunizations, pneumococcal vaccinations, colorectal screenings, and breast cancer screenings

Improving four cardiac health measures: low-dose aspirin therapy, blood pressure control, cholesterol control, tobacco cessation

Integrating Health Information Technology (HIT) to Achieve Meaningful Use (MU) and Improve Care Coordination and Prevention.

Promote use of PQRS reporting and incentive payment qualification

Reducing disparities in healthcare for at-risk population

News & Suggested Reading

Study offers strong evidence that colonoscopy saves lives, 03/23/2012, www.reuters.com
Keep Up to Date on ICD-10
CMS coverage of cardiovascular services

Tools You Can Use

“Know Stroke” toolkitsâ€”these materials from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke provide stroke signs and symptoms in English and Spanish.
Partnering with Pharmacists in the Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseasesâ€”this team-based care guide discusses ways to work with pharmacists to help prevent heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Medicines to Help You: High Blood Pressureâ€”this fact sheet from the Food and Drug Administration can help women discuss blood pressure medications with their doctor or other health professional.
A little less sodium, a lot of livesâ€”this HHS HealthBeat podcast summarizes new research that shows reducing Americans' sodium intake could save half a million lives!
Brand new “Tips From Former Smokers”â€”share the latest testimonials from Americans who know the dangerous consequences of tobacco use and secondhand smoke.
Health information technology improves quality of care for patients with high blood pressure. This study shows that combinations of interventions, including clinical decision support through an electronic health record, contributed to positive across-the-board change in hypertension care.
The Heart TruthÂ® professional education materials improve provider knowledge of women and heart disease. A recent evaluation of The Heart TruthÂ® training materials for health professionals found that providers demonstrated improved knowledge of heart disease in women after the training, especially obstetricians/gynecologists and other specialists. The study also found that tailoring the lectures to non-physicians, who also provide a lot of primary care, might be beneficial.

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Contact Information

For more information about Improving Health for Populations and Communities, contact Terrey Currie at tcurrie@cfmc.org or 303-695-3300 ext. 3029.

Colorado Foundation for Medical Care (CFMC), the Medicare quality improvement organization for Colorado, prepared this material under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents do not necessarily reflect CMS Policy.