Ocean City Gazette, Healthcare Providers Work to Avoid Unnecessary Hospital Visits, January 4, 2012
The Ocean City Gazette recognized the promise of HQSI and the Atlantic-Cape Community Coalition to effect positive change in care integration. HQSI convened a kick-off meeting with several providers in Atlantic and Cape May counties to address the issue of avoidable hospital readmissions. The providers pledged to work together as a coalition to reduce readmissions by 20% over the next three years, a commitment that the Ocean City Gazette recognized was important for their readership.
Today in PT, Sweet Freedom, October 27, 2011
Effective physical therapy plays an important role in reducing the use of physical restraints in nursing homes and long term care facilities, a goal championed in New Jersey by HQSI. In Teresa McUsic’s Today in PT article, our area Program Manager discusses how nursing homes participating in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Physical Restraint Reduction Project improved their rates by focusing on physical therapy, enhancing patient communication, spreading best practices through provider team sharing and making use of HQSI-facilitated tool kits and resources.
NJ Journal of Pharmacy: Expanding Pharmacist’s Role in Direct Patient Care Improves Patient Safety
The Winter 2012 issue of the New Jersey Journal of Pharmacy features an article by HQSI’s Nicole Skyer-Brandwene, MS, R.Ph., BCPS, Drug Safety Project Coordinator, on the Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC). The article highlights Zufall Health Center in northwestern New Jersey, which joined the national PSPC collaborative in its first year and has since successfully integrated evidence-based clinical pharmacy services into the management of its high-risk, medically complex patients. Zufall successfully used grant funding to bring a part-time clinical pharmacist on-site and has been working with HQSI on improving data collection practices, healthcare outcomes, workflow efficiencies, andservices to the diabetic Medicare community. As the PSPC moves into its fourth year, HQSI looks to help new teams joining the collaborative achieve similar success and ensure continued pharmacist involvement in the direct care of patients.
