Newswise — Through the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Department of Quality Management and Research and AMGA's Foundation, the association is providing grants for quality improvement initiatives focusing on improving the quality of care for patients with diabetes. Recipients are medical groups, IPAs, academic practices, and integrated delivery systems that responded to a request for proposals distributed in mid-2005. An expert advisory panel reviewed applications and identified which were current best practices and which they believed had great potential to see significant improvements in outcomes over the coming year. In addition to being awarded educational grants, the organizations will participate in a learning collaborative and contribute to a compendium on diabetes care.
The following medical groups will receive $2,500 educational grants for their current best practices, which will be further developed and used as case studies in a published compendium:
"¢ Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, CaliforniaTransplant Diabetes Program"¢ Dreyer Medical Clinic, Aurora, IllinoisA Novel Interdisciplinary Approach to Diabetes Health Management"¢ Carle Clinic Association, Urbana, IllinoisCarle Diabetes Management Program"¢ Mercy Clinics, Des Moines, IowaBest Practices in Diabetes Care"¢ Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, MinnesotaFairview Diabetes Care"¢ HealthPartners Medical Group, Minneapolis, MinnesotaOptimal Diabetes Care Program"¢ Salem Clinic P.C., Salem, OregonDiabetes Quality Improvement in an Outpatient Clinic: Using the Chronic Care Model"¢ Austin Regional Clinic, Austin, TexasDiabetes Mellitus Quality Improvement Initiative
The following medical groups will receive $10,000 educational grants to support their quality improvement efforts over the coming year through participation in the learning collaborative:
"¢ Dreyer Medical Clinic, Aurora, IllinoisA Novel Interdisciplinary Approach to Diabetes Health Management: Translating Clinical Outcomes into Financial and Operational Success"¢ Henry Ford Medical Group, Detroit, MichiganDiabetes Health Enhancement Clinic: Achieving Superior Results in Diabetes Care Through Focused Multi-disciplinary Clinic Visits"¢ HealthPartners Medical Group, Minneapolis, MinnesotaOptimal Diabetes Care Program"¢ PeaceHealth Medical Group, Eugene, OregonDiabetes Care for the 21st Century"¢ University of Utah Health Care: Community Clinics, Salt Lake City, UtahImproving Care for Our Patients with Diabetes - A System-Wide Approach
In addition, several medical groups have been invited to participate in the collaborative on an unfunded basis:
"¢ Decatur Internal Medicine Associates, Decatur, AlabamaThe Diabetes and Lipid Center"¢ Balboa Medical Group in collaboration with SHARP SENIOR HEALTH CENTER, San Diego, CaliforniaDiabetes Management"¢ Carle Clinic Association, Urbana, IllinoisCarle Diabetes Management Program"¢ Novant Health/Forsyth Medical Group, Winston Salem, North CarolinaDiabetes Care Program"¢ Pacific Medical, Tigard, OregonBest Practices in Diabetes Learning Collaborative Application"¢ Austin Regional Clinic, Austin, TexasDiabetes Mellitus Quality Improvement Initiative"¢ University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, Madison, WisconsinSelf-Management Support for Patients with Diabetes"¢ Medical Associates Health Centers, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin Increasing "Touches" A patient-centered approach to diabetes care"¢ Billings Clinic Foundation, Cody, WyomingInnovation in Diabetes Eye Care
In addition to identifying best practices and providing funding for medical group projects, the program offers a shared learning environment where participants can exchange strategies and experiences as they work to improve the care provided to patients with diabetes. The mission of the Best Practices in Diabetes Care Learning Collaborative is to encourage programs targeting the improvement in care for patients with diabetes. Participating project teams will be able to regularly network with peers, participate in bi-monthly conference calls on relevant project topics, and have timely access to industry experts. Each collaborative participant will design and implement their own unique initiative and have direct control of their project. The ultimate goal of the collaborative is to produce and share tested tools and strategies and then share them with other physician groups nationwide in a compendium of best practices to advance the quality of care. The Learning Collaborative will begin in March 2006 and continue through March 2007.
The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest, most prestigious integrated healthcare delivery systems. AMGA advocates for the multispecialty medical group model of healthcare delivery and for the patients served by medical groups through innovation and information sharing, benchmarking, leadership development, and continuous striving to improve patient care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to more than 50 million patients in 42 states, including 15 million capitated lives. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operations assistance. The American Medical Group Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the AMGA. As a nonprofit 501(C)3 organization, its mission is to foster quality improvement in group practice through education and research programs in clinical quality, patient safety, service, operational efficiency and innovation. For more information, visit http://www.amga.org.
The Best Practices in Diabetes Care Compendium and Learning Collaborative are made possible through the support of an educational grant from sanofi-aventis.
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