Improving Health For Populations and Communities: Physician Offices

As the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Colorado, CFMC will assist primary care physicians in improving preventive services for the Medicare population. The Improving Health for Populations and Communities (IHPC) project, previously known as the Prevention project, will assist physician practices that want to use their electronic health record systems to improve preventative care services and cardiac care health measures and report those quality measures to CMS to qualify for Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) incentive payment.

CFMC is recruiting a select group of providers to work with us through 2014 and participate in an initiative to improve health for populations and communities through prevention. The work will address breast and colorectal cancer screening, and influenza and pneumonia immunization rates.

Practices who participate with CFMC will learn to maximize the use of their EHR to improve patient care by collecting data on clinical quality measures, learn to use the EHR's clinical decision support tools, and improve workflow to take full advantage of the information generated. Participants will be able to better manage their patients in prevention and cardiac care areas leading to improved patient satisfaction.

What CFMC Offers

CFMC will help you assess your current processes, establish practice quality improvement goals, provide care management education and re-assess effectiveness to target improved clinical quality measures. We will serve as an EHR vendor liaison both on a local and national level while also assisting you with the CMS reporting requirements. CFMC can provide your facility with clinical resources and technical assistance at no cost.

Other services include:

  • On-site quality improvement consultation
  • Care management education programs and access to tools and resources
  • PQRS support as it relates to the IHPC project
  • Assistance with CMS data collection

Benefits of Participation

  • Free consultation on care management techniques, process re-design and electronic reporting
  • Recognition through participation in a national quality improvement program
  • Healthier patients through increased screening and earlier treatment
  • Potential increased revenue

Eligibility Requirements for Participation

  • Practices must have a CMS 2012 qualified EHR for PQRS reporting
  • Must commit to expand care management processes
  • Be willing to electronically supply EHR-derived data to CFMC and/or CMS on a quarterly basis

PROVIDER RESOURCES

A wealth of resources related to the prevention project topic areas, including articles and events, is available here.

Contact Information

For more information about Improving Health for Populations and Communities, contact Terrey Currie,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.