Research Objective:
A challenge to improving the quality and value of healthcare has been the need for multiple stakeholders to collaborate in a coordinated effort. To address this, a novel program has been developed to create a regional commitment to deliver high quality care that is more patient-centered and efficient.
Study Design:
The Kansas City Quality & Value Innovation Consortium (QVIC) has created a network of hospitals and other stakeholder to collaborate and innovate on healthcare delivery. This initiative began by first identifying healthcare systems’ priorities through individual meetings with leadership from regional hospitals, including CEOs, CNOs, COOs, CQOs, and CMOs. Concurrently, meetings were held with payers, hospital associations, providers, health departments, researchers, patients, and community-based organizations (CBOs). These interviews identified 32 key quality improvement topics. Focus groups and surveys reduced this to 11 topics that were then selected for community forums where stakeholders provided brief presentations on the biggest challenges and strategies for improving healthcare value within the specified topic. A multi-stakeholder advisory board was created to oversee the program. Through this mixed methods approach, valuable feedback from the strategic advisory board, community forums, and surveys were aggregated and resulted in the selection of two topics.
Population Studied:
Study participants included leadership from 14 regional hospitals, 4 payer organizations, 2 state hospital associations, 4 public health departments, and 9 community based organizations, as well as 50+ regional researchers. In total, over 75 meetings and interviews with more than 200 individuals and groups were held. The twenty community forums have been attended by over 1,700 attendees.
Principal Findings:
Evaluations of the community forums have shown broad interest and satisfaction. The QVIC efforts have been recognized as a community asset for helping build collaboration and partnerships across stakeholder groups and competitors. Ultimately, these two regional initiatives (opioid management and transitions in heart failure care to reduce readmissions by impacting social determinants of health) were selected for novel implementation, measurement, and dissemination strategies. A suite of interventions is being offered and adopted by providers, within each of the two regional initiatives. Metrics for quantifying improvements in healthcare value are being developed and data collection is beginning. Implementation strategies are identified and being customized for pragmatic integration into each healthcare system.
Conclusions:
While the entire country is grappling with the challenge of improving the quality of care, while lowering its costs, Kansas City has modeled a unique culture and strategy for achieving this goal.
The development and evaluation of an HIV implementation science network in New England: lessons learned
