AcademyHealth and The Commonwealth Fund have announced that nine states have been selected to participate in the State Quality Improvement Institute—an intensive effort to help states plan and implement concrete action plans to improve performance across targeted quality indicators.
Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington were selected for the Institute through a competitive process designed to identify states with the commitment, leadership, and resources necessary to build on previous success and conceptualize and implement substantive new quality improvement efforts.
Each state will convene a team, led by a designee selected by the Governor, to participate in a highly interactive process for developing policy and program strategies. Participant teams will have the opportunity to work with expert faculty to assess current challenges, analyze strategic policy options, and revise or refine current state-specific plans. Teams will also meet with participating policymakers from other states to network and share their experiences and best practices. The State Quality Institute faculty will share their expertise in various quality domains including: value-based purchasing; data collection and transparency; care coordination; and disease prevention and wellness promotion.
The Institute kicks off in April 2008 and concludes in the spring of 2009. Institute activities include:
- Site visits to each selected state to facilitate team planning, prepare state team members for the Institute, and provide an opportunity to review and discuss the state’s quality improvement goals and strategies;
- A customized and highly interactive policy development meeting with teams from all the participating states and expert faculty to review the states’ baseline performance on a variety of measures – focusing primarily on quality and efficiency – and stimulate work on state action plans for quality improvement;
- Individual technical assistance, including background research, on-site consultation visits, telephone consultations with expert faculty, and other support;
- Online training and support through a project Web site, bulletin board for state team members, and ongoing cyber seminars; and
- A final meeting to evaluate states’ progress and learn from the experience of others participating in the Institute.
