Hospitals

Alliant | GMCF is an independent, objective and trusted partner of organizations that represent health care providers. We bring evidence-based best practices to the bedside, while sharing knowledge and tools for improving health quality, efficiency and value. As part of the national network of Quality Improvement Organizations, we focus on three aims: better patient care, better population health, and lower health care costs through improvement.

Attention: All providers accepting Medicare

CMS issues new combined Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage and new Detailed Explanation of Non-Coverage.

These notices have been published on the CMS website.

Read more about the CMS Beneficiary Notices Initiative (BNI).

Reducing Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs)

Alliant | GMCF will lead a local learning and action network (LAN) to address HAIs. The local learning and action network shall work in collaboration with the National Coordinating Center for Patient Safety (a QIO support contractor) to focus on the reduction of:

• Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI)
• Surgical Site Infections (SSIs)
• Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI)
• Clostridium difficile Infections (CDI)

C. difficile

Infections from Clostridium difficile, a bacterium that causes diarrhea and other health issues, is a patient safety concern in all types of medical facilities, not just hospitals as traditionally thought, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While many health care-associated infections, such as bloodstream infections, declined in the past decade, C. difficile infection rates and deaths climbed to historic highs.

C. difficile is linked to about 14,000 U.S. deaths every year. Those most at risk are people who take antibiotics and also receive care in any medical setting. Almost half of infections occur in people younger than 65, but more than 90 percent of deaths occur in people 65 and older. Previously released estimates based on billing data show that the number of U.S. hospital stays related to C. difficile remains at historically high levels of about 337,000 annually, adding at least $1 billion in extra costs to the health care system.

CDC C.diff Fact Sheet

CDC MMWR C.diff

Adverse Drug Events (ADE)

Adverse events secondary to medication therapy are the most common type of health care-associated adverse event. Adverse drug events disproportionately affect patients over the age of 65 across all settings including in hospital, ambulatory care and long-term care facilities.

Quality Data Reporting

Alliant | GMCF will continue to provide technical assistance to hospitals to improve their quality of care related to Medicare programs such as the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program.