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. Quarterly learning network meetings encouraged the exchange of quality improvement techniques.

Results: The practice's quality team succeeded in creating a chronic care registry, improving patient care as measured by benchmark chronic disease states, and extending this knowledge to other areas of their practice.

Discussion: With mounting economic barriers to quality preventive services and medical access of any kind, the quality improvement in diabetic care and asthma is notable. The SEAHEC collaborative helped the practice achieve better results in approaching quality benchmarks than state averages, despite serving a more economically challenged population.