Clinics

Stratis Health works toward its mission to improve health care quality and safety in Minnesota physician practices through initiatives funded by federal and state government contracts, and community and foundation grants, including serving as Minnesota's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO). We are currently focusing our physician practice quality improvement work in the areas of health information technology, prevention, and cultural competency.

Health Information Technology

Stratis Health is a resource for health care providers in their efforts to improve health care quality, prevention, and patient safety by implementing and optimizing the use of health information technology (HIT), specifically electronic health records (EHR) and e-prescribing. With state and federal mandates for implementing interoperable EHRs by 2015, Stratis Health has been working with Minnesota primary care clinics since 2005 to implement and optimize the use of EHR systems for tracking immunizations, mammograms, diabetes tests, and other health prevention procedures, and to establish preventive health reminder systems. Results of a comprehensive Stratis Health survey that measured the level of EHR adoption and implementation in Minnesota's adult primary care clinics show a significant increase in the number of clinics that have implemented or are in the process of implementing an EHR system—from 46 percent in 2005 to 62 percent in 2007.

Through our QIO contract, Stratis Health assisted nearly 80 clinics with improving care management practices by advancing the implementation of EHR. By replacing paper medical records with EHR systems, clinics can leverage technology to enhance care management of patients, particularly the chronically ill. Of the clinics participating in our technical assistance group, 77 percent implemented an EHR system

For information about how your organization can use HIT to improve health care prevention, quality, and patient safety, contact Sue Severson, director of health information technology services at Stratis Health, 952-853-8538.

Prevention

Through its three-year QIO contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which began on August 1, 2008, Stratis Health is working with specific physician practices in utilizing the care management capabilities of EHR systems and evidence-based best practices to improve breast and colorectal cancer screening and influenza and pneumococcal immunization rates. With a history of providing health prevention information and resources and collaborating with local and national organizations that work to prevent serious diseases, Stratis Health promotes preventive health, including influenza and pneumococcal immunizations, cancer and diabetes screening, and preventive measures for cardiovascular disease.

Cultural competency

Stratis Health is involved in a unique collaboration dedicated to improving cultural competency and reducing health disparities in primary care clinics across Minnesota through the adoption and use of culturally and linguistically appropriate service standards for underserved populations. To address these issues and to gain a better understanding of cross cultures, Stratis Health, in partnership with UCare, has invited eligible adult, primary care clinics to participate in a statewide cultural competency initiative.

Through our QIO contract, we worked with 23 adult primary care clinics across Minnesota—both urban and rural—to reduce language and cultural barriers to effective health care by engaging physicians and staff to better understand the changing demographics of their patient base and to build more culturally relevant approaches to care delivery into their practices. Clinics participating in our technical assistance group made statistically significant performance improvement on all 14 national Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards, from baseline to re-measurement.

Resources

Clinic Link This Stratis Health newsletter provides physician practices with statewide support that contributes to Minnesota's collaborative health care improvement environment. Clinic Link provides quarterly updates on HIT, prevention, and cultural competency, including Minnesota success stories, events, tool, and resources.

Stratis Health partners with a variety of Minnesota health care organizations and plays a key role in each organization in informing policy and working to achieve health care quality and patient safety goals that impact physician practices. Following is a list of a few of those organizations.

Minnesota e-Health Initiative A public-private collaborative effort to improve health care quality, increase patient safety, reduce health care costs and enable individuals and communities to make the best possible health decisions by accelerating the adoption and use of health information technology.

Minnesota Cancer Alliance A coalition of health care organizations, community-based groups, and volunteers that evolved from collaborative efforts to create Cancer Plan Minnesota. Founded in 2005, the Alliance was formed to support and implement the plan. Any organization or individual interested in working to reduce the state's cancer burden can join the Alliance at no cost.

As a member of the Minnesota Cancer Alliance, a statewide, comprehensive cancer control coalition, Stratis Health recommends the Minnesota Cancer Resources Web site to cancer patients, caregivers, and health care professionals as a valuable source for local cancer resources. Search by zip code, city, key word, or organization for local resources on support groups, in-home services, hospice, transportation, products, and more.

Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership A coalition of health care consumers and literacy groups that together with the state's health and social service agencies and provider organizations, educate providers and consumers about health literacy.

Minnesota Diabetes Collaborative The collaborative currently focuses on low literacy diabetes patient education tools and work to reduce health care disparities.

Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) Consumer Engagement Workgroup Chaired by Stratis Health President and CEO Jennifer P. Lundblad, with a current focus on The D5, diabetes tools for consumers and providers. Aligning Forces for Quality: The Regional Market Project is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to help communities dramatically improve the quality of the health care they provide for chronic diseases in ambulatory settings.

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 clinic initiatives.

Health Information Technology

Prevention
Jerri Hiniker, program manager
952-853-8540

Cultural Competency