Improving Care for Medicare Beneficiaries

Recent U.S. Census estimates show that the percentage of the U.S. population 65 and older increased 34% since 2010 and that 20% of the population will be 65 and older by 2030. As older adults, many Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic condition, and many have multiple conditions. The most common are high blood pressure, arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes.

Stratis Health, building on a long history of success as the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Minnesota, served as a key partner in Superior Health Quality Alliance (Superior Health). Superior Health is powered by eight organizations with a strong track record of achieving Medicare quality improvement goals to improve health and health care for consumers, patients, clinicians, health care organizations, and communities.

Superior Health, including Stratis Health, brought together health care organizations and community-based organizations in community coalitions for collaborative learning and action, providing training, technical assistance, and convening using our subject-matter expertise and evidence-based interventions to improve health care quality and value. Our goals were to:

• Improve behavioral health outcomes, focusing on decreased opioid misuse
• Increase patient safety, including reduced adverse drug events
• Increase chronic disease management, focusing on cardiac/vascular health, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease
• Improve coordination of care, including reduced hospital readmissions and emergency department visits
• Increase immunization rates for COVID, flu, and pneumonia
• Improve infection prevention and control practices

Key Accomplishments

• Reduced opioid adverse drug events among high-risk patients by 16%
• Improved blood pressure control among patients with hypertension by 23%
• Decreased 30-day hospital readmissions by 20%
• Reduced hospitalizations of nursing home residents due to Clostridium difficile by 16%
• Improved screening and management of chronic kidney disease by 23%

Actions

• Improve health care quality and safety for older adults by addressing the goals listed above with over 1,000 nursing homes, 43 communities, and providers serving at least 65% of the Medicare beneficiaries in the region (MI, MN, WI)
• Increase health equity by measuring the impact of our work on populations that experience the greatest health disparities and concentrating efforts on the health and safety issues at the root of those disparities.
• Improve the health care experience by increasing coordination among clinicians and facilities and across care settings; facilitate health information exchange through better use of technology; and engage patients, residents, and caregivers in the design and delivery of care.

We make lives better by…

• Improving quality of care and quality of life for older adults
• Reducing the burden of care for health care providers and practitioners
• Increasing health care access and value for all

Stratis Health has led quality improvement for Medicare beneficiaries for the state of Minnesota since the inception of the QIO program in 1971.