Previous Quality Collaboratives
National Quality Improvement
Hospital Quality Improvement Contactors (HQIC) – 2020 – September 2024
Contracts awarded four-year contracts in 2020 supported the Hospital Quality Improvement Contractors, to offer focused technical assistance on high-priority issues in acute care hospitals. This work focused providers with implementation of evidence-based best practices, using innovation, quality improvement strategies, and data-driven methodologies to improve the quality and safety of care for hospitals that serve small, rural communities and vulnerable populations.
WVHA partnered with the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) to offer HQIC participation to all West Virginia hospitals identified by CMS as eligible for this program through the Eastern US Quality Improvement Collaborative.
EQIC enrolled 161 hospitals from six states, which met and surpassed all of the CMS improvement goals. After four years of intensive work, the hospitals continue to demonstrate resilience and commitment to patient safety. EQIC commends and thanks the hospitals for their hard work and commitment. EQIC is confident they will use the skills and knowledge gained to sustain their QI efforts.
For more information, please see the EQIC Final Report – Advancing Hospital Quality and Patient Safety.
Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) – 2016 – 2020
In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the 16 Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIINs), worked to further instill best practices in harm reduction in more than 4,000 of the Nation’s acute care hospitals. CMS awarded the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) a two-year Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) contract (within an optional third year based on performance), to continue efforts to reduce all-cause inpatient harm by 20 percent and readmissions by 12 percent by 2019. The HIINs regularly engaged with hospitals, providers, and the broader caregiver community to quickly implement evidence-based practices in harm reduction to improve the quality of care.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an estimated 125,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and approximately $28 billion in healthcare costs were saved because of reductions in Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HAC).
HIIN Resources
HIIN – Patient and Family Engagement (Password Protected)
Hospital Engagement Networks – 2012 – 2016
The Partnership for Patients initiative was a public-private partnership working to improve the quality, safety and affordability of health care for all Americans. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Partnership for Patients model in 2011 as one of the first models tested using section 1115A of the Social Security Act.
While patients and private and federal partners worked to align policy and action toward the goal, government contractors called Hospital Engagement Networks (HENs) provided direct technical assistance to acute care hospitals in implementing evidenced based and best practices of high performing healthcare systems. WVHA supported hospitals through alignment with the AHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network.
After nearly three years of work, the PfP saw an 8.8 percent reduction in overall harm rates equating to the prevention of an estimated 518,000 harms to patients and averting more than 15,500 deaths. The cost-savings from these reductions were an estimated $4 billion in overall savings for 2012 and 2011 combined.