Quality Improvement

Health care quality improvement is at the heart of Stratis Health's mission.

Using our quality improvement experience and expertise, Stratis Health helps health care provider organizations achieve improvement in both clinical and non-clinical areas. We help providers translate evidence-based research and guidelines into practices, tailoring information by setting, community and population. We work to further prevention and wellness, and to foster safe and person-centered care.

We are one of the leaders in health care quality in the state and have formed long-lasting partnerships and relationships with all the major stakeholders for improving health care quality in Minnesota.

Our quality improvement strategies include:

• Measuring and reporting performance. Reporting helps providers to identify opportunities for improvement, to track the progress of their changes, and to compare their performance against others. Reporting allows for data transparency that is critical for health care providers to benchmark themselves, as well as for consumers to make informed decisions about their health care options.
• Adopting and effectively using technology. Research suggests that technologies such as electronic health records, computerized physician order entry systems, medication bar codes, and telehealth technologies reduce medical errors and assist providers in making appropriate point-of-care decisions.
• Redesigning care processes. We assist the health care community in placing patients at the center of their own care, focusing on systems that support the delivery of evidence-based care.
• Changing organizational cultures. Clinical practice is embedded in organizational culture, and broader organizational improvement initiatives can support improve quality and safety. We work with provider organizations to foster leadership and communication that supports quality, and empowers individuals and teams to continuously improve care.
  

Institute of Nursing Quality

Stratis Health launched the Institute of Nursing Quality (INQ) in 2008 to foster a health care system that supports satisfied health care professionals working in settings that promote optimal care and reduce the chance of error. Leading the INQ, Stratis Health brought together a diverse group of nursing professionals who identified a need and interest in topics where care is nurse driven and crosses health care settings, such as depression, pain management; and care coordination.

In collaboration with graduate nursing school programs and other potential partners, Stratis Health aims to provide bedside nurses easy access to basic quality information, best practice guidelines, and evidence based nursing practice information. Contact us to discuss how we can work together to support initiatives quality in the nursing profession.

Minnesota's Quality Improvement Organization

Stratis Health has served as Minnesota’s Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) since the program’s inception in the 1970s. In this role, we work with providers of health care to help them improve the care they deliver. We strive to improve care for all Minnesota Medicare consumers through our quality improvement initiatives, and for individual beneficiaries through a beneficiary protection program.

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 quality improvement.