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CQC Newsletter, Volume 1
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Event News / Information |
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In This Issue / Features |
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Diabetes & Cardiovascular Care October 28-29, 2004 marked the official beginning of the Diabetes & Cardiovascular Care Collaborative with Learning Session I. Learning Session II will be held February 3-4, 2005 in San Francisco. To learn more about this collaborative, visit our new web site. Upcoming Events Patient Service Collaborative Coming in 2005. This collaborative will focus on providing patients with timely, courteous and coordinated care through implementation of proven innovative office systems. Other Events CHCF Conference on IT and Disease Management The California HealthCare Foundation held the Health Care Information Technology 2004 conference, Enhancing Health Care Through Disease Management and Technology, on November 18-19 in San Francisco. Download conference presentations from the Foundation's website. Resources California Smokers' Helpline: The Diabetes Prevention & Control Program and Tobacco Control Section within the California Department of Health Services are working together to increase health care providers' awareness of and referral of patients with diabetes to the California Smokers' Helpline. Smokers with diabetes have unique issues that need to be addressed in terms of motivation and maintaining cessation. This toll free telephone counseling service is provided through UCSD's School of Medicine Cancer Center. Counselors are available Monday-Friday, 7 am-9 pm, Saturday 9 am - 1 pm and voice mail operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Services are available in English, Spanish, Mandarin & Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, and for the hearing impaired. Free promotional materials are available for providers to give to patients. For more information contact: Outreach Department (858) 300-1010 or cshoutreach@ucsd.edu. Patient Goal Setting Collaborative goal-setting is an important step toward helping patients manage their own disease. Find resources and sample tools at UCSF's action-plan.org. Contact Information California Quality Collaborative Diane Stewart Kara Cassidy |
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Diabetes & Cardiovascular Care Collaborative Comes to Life
Chip Renner, M.D. and Audrey D'Andrea, M.D. are two participants from Hill Physicians participating in the Diabetes & CAD collaborative. On October 28, the California Quality Collaborative launched its first initiative to achieve its stated goal: "the highest attainable performance in the clinical care and service for all Californians with chronic conditions insured through commercial health plans." Thirteen physician organizations from around the state have committed themselves and some of their leading physicians to make breakthrough improvements in diabetes and cardiovascular care. 
Faculty Members Connie Davis, MN, ARNP and Alan Glaseroff, M.D. take a moment while reviewing Storyboards outlining each group's goals and starting point. What are breakthroughs? Where 70% of patients with diabetes have their glucose at near normal levels and their LDL levels under 100. Unattainable? No. Groups participating in a similar collaborative in Washington state achieved rates of over 90%. Why breakthroughs? Because as we have the ability and the responsibility to take on these epidemics of chronic illness. What CQC provides is a structure to nourish and challenge our will to do so. This is a shared responsibility. Not only of the healthcare industry - its providers, plans, purchasers, pharmaceutical companies and public health leaders. It is also the responsibility of our patients. California Quality Collaborative require a systems change - from an acute, episodic, reactive one to a prepared, proactive one that activates and motivates patients to be informed partners in their own care. The CQC Diabetes & Cardiovascular Care Collaborative is the first of two collaboratives planned for physician groups and their physicians during its first year. A patient service collaborative will begin in the spring. In both instances, national experts offer their knowledge of best practices to those innovative groups who adapt them to their own environments. The collaborative provides a forum of mutual-learning and support as well as an accountability structure. Peers hold each other accountable to do what they say they will do. And this can-do spirit reminds professionals of the reasons they went into healthcare in the first place - to heal illness and improve health. 
Faculty members Hal Holman, M.D. (left) and Neil Solomon, M.D. (right) led sessions on Patient Self-Management and Clinical Information Systems. Health plans are also active participants in CQC. Approximately half of the 5 million Californians potentially affected by this program are cared for by physicians who do not belong to a physician group with the systems and infrastructure to make these breakthroughs. Health plans must provide the programs that supplement physician care. CQC is now investigating what initiatives will make these programs more efficient, effective and accessible. Some of the state's most innovative leaders serve on CQC's steering committee, individuals who not only have the vision but also the track record. They are making their leadership available through this program. You will be hearing more. Stay tuned. To read more about the California Quality Collaborative, visit the web site at http://www.calquality.org 
The team from St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group: Margaret Macias, Lynn Mahan, Cindy Porco, Doreen Chesebro and Kimberly Motta, M.D. St. Joseph Affiliated Physicians was represented by Richard Bond, M.D. and Bobbi Diamond. Learning Session I in Los Angeles During two days, participants learned from experts and from each other on several topics including:
Collaborative Director Diane Stewart with Fiona Wilson, M.D. and Mitchell Feldman, M.D. of Brown & Toland Medical Group. |
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