Quality Processes for Health Improvement

About the Program

The Quality Processes for Health Improvement (QPHI) project involves work HealthTAP is doing with Marion General Hospital in Marion, Ind., on a multi-year initiative to re-engineer the hospital’s chronic disease management of patients diagnosed with heart failure. The QHPI initiative aims to increase Grant County heart failure patients’ quality of life through better healthcare engagement and access; a decrease in incidents of heart failure; a decrease in health conditions leading up to a heart failure diagnosis; and an increase in patient usage of appropriate healthcare resources.

The special needs of heart failure patients with comorbidities (i.e. Coronary Artery Disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Chronic Kidney Disease) will be incorporated into the care redesign. Improvement methodologies include Value Stream Analysis to see the overall patient flow from start to finish, Rapid Improvement Events to redesign processes, and Lean Daily Improvement projects to fine-tune them and to hold the metrics. Revisions to value streams and standard work are anticipated to tighten and standardize the referral pathway post-discharge to reduce unnecessary complications and create a customized, patient-centered plan as well as seamless handoff between inpatient and outpatient teams.

Quality improvement work will be joined by complementary services, such as telehealth/telemonitoring. Aligned with the CMS and CDC Million Hearts® program, the final phase of the initiative will address preventative primary care delivered through the hospital’s 13 physician-provider practices. MGH has contracted a data analytics provider to provide predictive analytics used in identifying and treating at-risk patients. The initiative is anticipated to culminate in the establishment of an in-house lean office.