Long-term Care

Stratis Health supports long-term care, working to improve the quality of life and quality of care for people who have a chronic illness or disability. We work with long-term care providers, whether they are delivering care in the home, in the community, in assisted living, or in nursing homes. Stratis Health has intensely supported more than 60 Minnesota home health agencies and more than 50 Minnesota nursing homes on clinical and organizational improvement.

Palliative care

Stratis Health is leading the Minnesota Rural Palliative Care Initiative, in partnership with Transitions and Life Choices, the palliative care program of Fairview Health Services, to establish or strengthen palliative care programs in rural Minnesota communities. We are assisting in developing programs that focus on improving the quality of life for patients facing chronic or life-threatening illness. We assist clinical and non-clinical professionals build skills to improve care planning, symptom management, communication, coordination, and delivery of care for those with chronic diseases and for those receiving hospice care. The first phase of this initiative includes 10 Minnesota communities. More on palliative care>

Nursing homes

Working with state leaders and a statewide coalition of providers and partners, Stratis Health is at the forefront of a movement to encourage a shift in nursing homes from the traditional institutional model of care to person-centered care, including participation in the Minnesota Culture Change Coalition. Stratis Health is a co-leader in supporting the Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes campaign in Minnesota, partnering with Care Providers of Minnesota and Aging Services of Minnesota. For more information about the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign check out the following links:

• 2012 Campaign Goals (2-page PDF)
• 2012 Press Release, Goals (2-page PDF)
• 2012 Press Release, Recruitment (2-page PDF)

Through our current three-year QIO contract, Stratis Health is currently providing training, clinical improvement technical assistance, organizational leadership assessment, and culture change support to the participating 22 nursing homes working together in quality improvement activities and interventions to improve the lives of the people who live in their nursing homes with specific focus on reducing pressure ulcers and physical restraints. Organizational culture change and improving safety will be at the heart of this work and best practices will be shared with the Minnesota nursing home community over the next few years.

Through our 2005-2008 QIO contract, Stratis Health assisted Minnesota’s nursing homes in creating healthier, more enjoyable communities for their residents. We provided quality improvement tools, training, and resources. We helped launch the Minnesota Culture Change Coalition, a coalition of stakeholders in long-term care interested in broadly fostering person-centered care.

Results

• Supported 53 nursing homes in a collaborative focused on reducing physical restraints, pain, and pressure ulcers; lowering workforce turnover; and moving from an institutional environment to one that is person-centered
• 1.7% decrease in pressure ulcer rate for high-risk patients in 53 nursing homes

Nursing home health information technology

Health Information Technology Toolkit for Nursing Homes. The toolkit can be used for implementing a comprehensive HIT or EHR system, for acquiring individual applications, or for overhauling existing systems.

Minnesota Nursing Home HIT Survey. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) contracted with Stratis Health to determine the level of health information technology (HIT) use in Minnesota nursing homes, by surveying all Medicare-certified nursing homes in the state. Final Report (June 2008, 13-page PDF)

Home health

Stratis Health supported home health agencies statewide in their participation in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign, through our 2005-2008 Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) contract. More patients received appropriate care in the comfort of their homes and avoided costly hospital stays due to a close partnership between Stratis Health and a select group of home health agencies. In addition to providing training and resources on avoidable acute care hospitalization, oral medication management, immunization assessment, and vaccination to Minnesota’s approximately 200 home health agencies, Stratis Health supported 62 home health agencies working on clinical quality improvement, focusing on improving the use of telehealth and changing organizational culture to be patient centered and focused on quality.

Results

• 36% improvement statewide in assessing patients for flu and pneumococcal immunizations
• 6.3% reduction in avoidable hospitalizations for the 62 agencies, a statistically significant improvement

We are currently developing the Health Information Technology Toolkit for Home Health Agencies, expected to be completed by June 1, 2009.

Contact Stratis Health for assistance with your quality improvement and patient safety needs.

If your organization has projects it would like to work on, contact us to discuss how we can work together to support initiatives related to long-term care.