Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC)

Since 2012, the LHA Foundation’s quality team has engaged with more than 100 Louisiana hospitals in quality improvement work to reduce hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions as part of the Hospital Engagement Network (2012-2016) and the Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (2016-2020). In September 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded the next iteration of its national hospital quality improvement work, the Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) contracts. Unlike previous programs that were all-inclusive, HQICs focus on small and rural hospitals, as well as facilities that serve vulnerable populations, and participation is limited to only those hospitals on CMS’ priority list. This four-year program focuses on improving quality of care, addressing the opioid epidemic, and improving care transitions for patients and communities while supporting hospitals in responding to public health emergencies, like COVID-19, to ensure safe care and to facilitate preparedness for future public health crises. The HQIC program is being offered at no cost to participating hospitals. The LHA Foundation has partnered with an organization specializing in providing clinical quality improvement tools and resources, Convergence/Cynosure Health, to offer eligible hospitals virtual access to high-quality, on-demand resources to educate staff and achieve hospital-defined goals. Participating hospitals will submit monthly data on commonly-reported, nationally-standardized quality measures that align with CMS’ proposed goals and this data will be used for state and national benchmarking. If you would like more information about the HQIC, contact LHA Foundation Quality Program Manager Michelle Smith at 225-928-0026, ext. 217.

LHA Foundation Quality Improvement Initiative (QII)

The LHA Foundation launched a voluntary Quality Improvement Initiative (QII) to offer ongoing, meaningful quality-improvement resources and support statewide to hospitals that are not on CMS’ HQIC priority list. The LHA Foundation has partnered with Convergence/Cynosure Health to provide high-quality patient safety improvement tools and resources through the QII. Participation in the initiative provides hospitals with access to tools and resources to support quality improvement work and continues the journey of addressing the opioid epidemic, improving behavioral health outcomes, and improving care transitions for patients and communities. Additional resources are available to support hospitals in responding to public health emergencies, like COVID-19, to ensure safe care and to facilitate preparedness for future public health crises. Participating hospitals submit monthly data on commonly-reported, nationally-standardized quality measures that align with CMS’ proposed goals, and this data is used for state and national benchmarking. If you would like more information about the QII, contact LHA Foundation Quality Program Manager Michelle Smith at 225-928-0026, ext. 217.

OTHER LHA INITIATIVES

Louisiana Alliance for Patient Safety (LAPS) Patient Safety Organization (PSO)

The Louisiana Alliance for Patient Safety (LAPS) Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is a component of the LHA and is a federally-listed PSO with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. PSOs encourage clinicians and healthcare organizations to voluntarily report and share quality and patient-safety information without fear of legal discovery. PSOs help healthcare professionals learn from data on patient-safety events to prevent them from happening in the future.

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LAPS PSO Just Culture Collaborative

The Just Culture Collaborative is a new initiative of the LAPS PSO, in partnership with the Texas A&M Rural and Community Health Institute PSO, for Louisiana hospitals seeking to optimize the use of Just Culture principles to improve organizational safety culture. The goal of the Collaborative is to provide an in-depth understanding of Just Culture principles and to facilitate the adoption of those principles in achieving a robust safety culture in a learning organization. The Collaborative, which is open to all LAPS PSO members, will foster an environment of collaboration, learning, and innovative inquiry in order to achieve its goals.

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