Newswise — Through the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Department of Quality Management and Research, AMGA's Foundation, and Sankyo Pharma Inc., the association is providing grants for quality improvement initiatives focusing on the management of hypertension. Recipients are 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 hypertension management.
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:
"¢ Mercy Clinics Inc., Des Moines, IowaBest Practices in Hypertension Care"¢ Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, Rockville, MarylandControlling High Blood Pressure"¢ PriMed Physicians, Dayton, OhioHypertension Project Plan and Outcomes"¢ Providence Medical Group, Beaverton, OregonDeveloping Effective Interventions to Support Patient and Provider Co-management of Hypertension"¢ Fletcher Allen Health Care/University of Vermont, Burlington, VermontGetting to Goal: Patient Physician Clinic Interactions to Achieve Blood Pressure Control in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
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:
"¢ Mercy Clinics Inc, Des Moines, IowaBest Practices in Hypertension Care"¢ Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States, Rockville, MarylandControlling High Blood Pressure"¢ Robert Wood Johnson - University Medical Group, New Brunswick, New JerseyLinking Patient Safety and Quality Goals while Optimizing Care: Medical Reconciliation in Hypertension"¢ Providence Medical Group, Beaverton, OregonDeveloping Effective Interventions to Support Patient and Provider Co-Management of Hypertension"¢ Fletcher Allen Health Care/University of Vermont, Burlington, VermontGetting to Goal: Patient Physician Clinic Interactions to Achieve Blood Pressure Control in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
In addition, several medical groups have been invited to participate in the collaborative on an unfunded basis:
"¢ Kaiser Permanente - Bellflower Service Area, Downey, CaliforniaFeeling the Pressure: Hypertension Initiative"¢ Midwest Heart Specialists, Downers Grove, IllinoisAn Outpatient Process for Identifying Concealed and Overt Renal Insufficiency in Hypertension"¢ Albert Lea Medical Center - Mayo Health System, Albert Lea, MinnesotaHypertension Management"¢ PriMed Physicians, Dayton, OhioHypertension Project Plan and Outcomes"¢ ThedaCare, Appleton, WisconsinImproving Hypertension Control
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 hypertension. The mission of the Best Practices in Managing Hypertension Learning Collaborative is to encourage programs targeting the improvement in the management of hypertension. 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.
Sankyo Pharma is the U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., one of Japan's leading pharmaceutical companies for more than a century. Sankyo Pharma is dedicated to improving the health of people worldwide,and has a strong heritage of innovative research, focusing on the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, infection and cancer. For more information, visit http://www.sankyopharma.com.
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