Eliminating Patient Identified Barriers to Decrease Medicaid Inpatient Admission Rates and Improve Quality of Care.

Background And Objectives: The goal of this study was to decrease admission and readmission rate for the 2296 Medicaid patients in our clinic. Our focus was to eliminate patient identified barriers to care that led to decreased quality of care. The identified barriers for our clinic included distance to care, poor same-day access, communication, and fragmented care.

Decreasing Low Acuity Pediatric Emergency Room Visits with Increased Clinic Access and Improved Parent Education.

Background And Objective: The goal of this study was to decrease avoidable, low-acuity emergency department (ED) use among pediatric patients at Coastal Family Medicine. The rationale behind this focus was to improve continuity for our patients while decreasing the cost burden for low-acuity ED visits. The family medicine residency clinic pediatric panel has grown by 35% over the past 3 years, bringing this issue of same-day acute access in our clinic to the forefront.

Quality improvement in the age of electronic health records: the North Carolina Improving Performance in Practice program.

The Improving Performance in Practice program of the South East Area Health Education Center aims to assist primary care practices in using electronic health records to improve outcomes for patients with chronic diseases. This commentary describes the challenges and successes of practices that have participated in this program.

Patient care outcomes of the SEAHEC Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) experience.

Purpose: This study describes the effects of the collaboration between the South East Area Health Education Center and Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) on the improvement in quality markers in chronic disease states in a southeastern North Carolina family practice.

Methods: Teams were created throughout 6 counties to implement strategies at biweekly quality team meetings that would ultimately improve patient quality, as measured by adherence to IPIP benchmarks. Grant-funded cash incentives were given to the practice to create a chronic care registry.