Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Projects
Approved QI Project Description Quality Improvement Project Manager
Falls Screening and Follow-up Care Falls is the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among people over 65 years of age. They occur frequently – more than one out of three people in this age group fall each year. The human impact is significant and includes death, loss of independence, reduced quality of life, and lost time to work.
The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) developed clinical practice guidelines for identifying individuals most at risk of falling and performing a comprehensive falls-risk assessment.
The project’s goal is to implement evidence-based falls screening and follow-up for patients over 65 in primary care practices and improve performance in the related Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) measure. Tammy Garrity, BS, PCMH-CCE
Quality Improvement Program Manager
Pediatric Asthma Improvement Module Asthma affects 6.3 million children nationally. It exacts a huge toll on children, families, communities and the health care system and disproportionately impacts black, Hispanic, multi-race, Native American, and poor children and families.
Although the rate of pediatric hospital stays for asthma has declined nationally, pediatric asthma continues to be a leading cause of hospital admissions.
This project aims to engage pediatric and family medicine practices in implementing evidence based Asthma care processes and improve performance on key asthma outcome measures.Tammy Garrity, BS, PCMH-CCE
Quality Improvement Program Manager
Improving Medical Office Patient Safety Culture in Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) Clinical Sites According to the IOM, ‘‘the biggest challenge to moving toward a safer health system is changing the culture from one of blaming individuals for errors to one in which errors are treated not as personal failures, but as opportunities to improve the system and prevent harm.’’ (Institute of Medicine, 2001)
This project aims to engage ambulatory care medical offices in assessing their performance on patient safety culture domains, identifying opportunities for improvement, and to apply a quality improvement framework to strengthen their safety culture (using AHRQ’s Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture).Tammy Garrity, BS, PCMH-CCE
Quality Improvement Program Manager
Delivering Evidence Based Outpatient Based Opioid Treatment (OBOT) This project’s focus is to improve the reliability of delivering evidence-based Outpatient Based Opioid Treatment (OBOT). The primary aim is to increase access to OBOT in primary care settings through supporting effective implementation of evidence informed screening and treatment for opioid use disorder. The project hopes to increase provider knowledge in prescribing and treating. A secondary aim is to increase the number of providers with a DEA license waiver (to prescribe buprenorphine). Tammy Garrity, BS, PCMH-CCE
Quality Improvement Program Manager
MAHEC Virtual Health Services Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to care for patients outside of the clinical setting. Patients may be reluctant to be seen in the clinical setting for routine care (such as Annual Well Visits and preventive care visits) and for acute issues. MAHEC is working with physician practices in the region to implement a telehealth platform and increase the availability of virtual health services by provider. Tammy Garrity, BS, PCMH-CCE
Quality Improvement Program Manager
| Approved QI Project | Description | Quality Improvement Project Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Opioid Stewardship | Opioid abuse, addiction, and attributable deaths have been on the increase for many years. This project aims to utilize evidence-based guidelines to decrease the number of patients with current opioid prescriptions and the number of patients on >/= to 60 Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME). | Kenneth Robert, Project Lead |
| ECHO Autism - TEACCH | Screening for autism in the pediatric population helps to identify those in need of further testing. This project aims to increase the screening of 18-24-month-olds so that children can be identified as early as possible and access services to improve their outcomes. | Lisa Renfrow, MSN, RN, CDP Director-CME Area L AHEC |
| Approved QI Project | Description | Quality Improvement Project Manager |
|---|---|---|
| NC AHEC Practice Support Program | The goal of the NC AHEC Practice Support Program is to give clinicians the tools and systems to provide consistent, high-quality care to all patients. This project provides quality improvement coaches/facilitators who work with clinical practices to transform the provision of care. | Terri Roberts, MS, PCMH, CCE and Chris Weathington, MHA |
| Collaborative Care Model | The AHEC Practice Support Program transforms the way care is delivered so that clinicians have the tools and systems in place to provide consistent, high-quality care to all patients all the time, complete today’s work today, and prepare their practices for value-based payment initiatives. This project aims to improve collaborative care screenings for depression using the PHQ-9 assessment tool for patients 12 years of age and older. | Adam Zolotor, MD and Chris Weathington, MHA |