Download Nursing Home Improvement Network Fact Sheet

The Maryland-Virginia Nursing Home Improvement Network
Better care. Better outcomes. Lower costs.
Difficult challenge, easy solution. Every nursing home
wants to provide excellent resident care, 100% of the time.
Then reality enters the picture: staff turnover, tight budgets
and increased expectations from families and regulators.
Yet some facilities post consistently high quality scores. How
do they do it?
That is exactly what you will learn when you join the
Maryland-Virginia Nursing Home Improvement Network.
VHQC is bringing together nursing home leaders like you from
across the region to tackle the toughest quality challenges,
using strategies and tactics that the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services (CMS) gathered from the nation’s top
nursing homes. Working collaboratively, you will get the
support and encouragement you need to:
1. Develop and implement a Quality Assurance Performance
Improvement (QAPI) plan
2. Strengthen survey processes and standards
3. Increase resident satisfaction, as well as resident and
family engagement
4. Improve clinical processes and resident outcomes for
multiple areas of care
In addition, your facility can choose to make system-level
improvements in areas like staff stability and consistent
assignments, team building, finance and leadership.
Valuable benefits. When you participate, you will have
access to colleagues who have surmounted the challenges
you face, including high-performing Maryland and Virginia
facilities that will serve as peer mentors. This comprehensive,
no-cost initiative includes additional benefits, such as:
Well-aligned goals. The Network targets priorities that are
important to your facility and its residents. These goals also
align with QAPI, Advancing Excellence and related programs
to support your progress in:
1. Improving the mobility of long-stay residents
2. Reducing the unnecessary use of antipsychotic medications
3. Preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and
other healthcare-acquired conditions (HACs), like falls and
pressure ulcers
4. Decreasing potentially avoidable hospitalizations
5. Achieving a score of six or better on the Nursing Home
Quality Composite Score, a comprehensive measure of
clinical performance
1. Telephonic and email consultation with VHQC quality
improvement experts
Simple
requirements.
We Network
make participation easy and
Maryland
& Virginia
Quality Innovation
2. A 24/7 online community of supportive colleagues who
flexible because we designed improvement activities to
are willing to share their experiences and knowledge
fit into the real world of delivering healthcare. Our expert
3. Tools and resources based on scientific evidence and the
staff are just a phone call or email away when you need
best clinical, management and leadership practices of
help. Here are the basic steps that you will need to follow
high-performing nursing homes
in order to see results:
Maryland & Virginia Quality Innovation Network
1. Complete the Quality Assurance and Performance
Improvement (QAPI) self-assessment and update
annually
2. Sign up for the Advancing Excellence campaign
and give VHQC permission to view your facility’s
data
Fast Facts
How long does the network last?
January 2014 – July 2019
What topics are included?
3. Form an interdisciplinary improvement team that
includes senior leaders and front-line staff
Antipsychotic medications, infections, resident mobility,
4. Have at least one team member participate in
scheduled events, such as educational webinars
or teleconferences
topics, such as staff stability, teambuilding and finance.
5. Implement proven methods for improving quality,
measure your results, and adjust your approach
as needed, following the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle
6. Share your best practices and lessons learned with
other Maryland and Virginia nursing homes
pressure ulcers and avoidable hospitalizations. Leadership
How does this align with other nursing home
improvement efforts?
Your participation aligns with your commitment to Advancing
Excellence and can help you meet your organization’s quality
improvement goals and comply with CMS’ QAPI requirement.
Who should participate?
Nursing home administrators, medical directors, directors
Proven effectiveness. Your investment of time and
effort in the Maryland-Virginia Nursing Home Improvement
Network is a sound one, because the network is based
on a similar, highly productive collaborative that VHQC
convened in Virginia from 2012 to 2014. Here is what
one facility has to say about the value of our initiatives:
of nursing, nurse managers, other front-line patient care
staff. Residents and families have important insights to
contribute, as do associations that represent nursing homes
or advocate for residents.
“We have been successful as a result of our participation in VHQC’s pressure ulcer project. It widened our focus on
existing issues and brought attention to areas where we could improve. The tools VHQC provided were a great help.”
– Dr. James Abbott, Medical Director, The Virginia Home
Overall, the nearly 100 nursing homes participating in the 2012-2014 improvement collaborative achieved an overall 6%
improvement compared to their baseline performance in multiple areas of patient care. In addition, those focused on reducing
inappropriate antipsychotic use achieved a 15% improvement from baseline.
Get Started. If you took part in the previous nursing home collaborative, we hope you will continue your participation and
progress—and if you are new to the world of quality improvement, we are eager to welcome you. The first step is signing and
returning the Nursing Home Network participation agreement, which is posted on our website, www.vhqc.org. Questions?
Contact Sheila McLean, LNHA, MBA, CPHQ, at 804.289.5320 or [email protected].
About VHQC. As the Quality Innovation Network Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Maryland and Virginia, VHQC
convenes patients, providers and stakeholders to rapidly improve health quality and achieve better health, better care and lower
costs. We do this work through CMS’ QIO Program, the cornerstone of Medicare’s efforts to improve the quality and value of
health care for its more than 45 million beneficiaries.
VHQC has served as Virginia’s QIO for 30 years, and has held multiple national CMS quality improvement contracts. We also serve
as Virginia’s Health IT Regional Extension Center, helping providers achieve meaningful use of their electronic health records. For
additional information, visit us at www.vhqc.org.
This material was prepared by VHQC, the Medicare Quality Innovation Network Quality Improvement Organization for Maryland and Virginia, under
contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents
presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. VHQC/11SOW/9/4/2014/1984