NASHVILLE, Tenn. Vanderbilt University has received a contract for up to $28 million over the next four years from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help more than 4,000 clinicians throughout the Southeast "transform” their clinical practices to improve the quality of patient care while holding down costs.
The contract, announced Tuesday, Sept. 29, by CMS, is part of the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, which aims to help 150,000 clinician practices across the country develop comprehensive quality improvement strategies.
"This initiative is an extraordinary opportunity for safety net clinics to make quality improvements in health care delivery and patient outcomes," Carol Westlake, Executive Director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition and Board of Directors Chair of the Safety Net Consortium of Middle Tennessee, said. "Transforming Clinical Practices will help us meet our mission of providing services that address challenging health issues in our communities, including diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure and asthma."
The Vanderbilt contract supports a partnership between Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network (VHAN) and the Safety Net Consortium of Middle Tennessee. Called the Mid-South Practice Transformation Network (PTN), it aims to improve quality outcomes and reduce unnecessary testing, emergency room visits and hospitalizations, saving millions of dollars over the next four years.
“Participating in this initiative represents a tremendous opportunity to work with clinicians, health systems and the community to improve quality of care for patients, families and our local population," said Dr. Rothman, Principal Investigator for the Mid-South Practice Transformation Network.
The Mid-South Practice Transformation Network
All told, the PTN will provide clinicians who serve a diverse array of patients in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas with informatics tools, training and community/stakeholder engagement.
Many of the informatics tools have been developed at Vanderbilt to enhance collection and management of clinical and patient reported data, provide clinical decision support and share best practices and use other approaches including rapid quality improvement cycles and clinic redesign.
The PTN also will utilize the resources of the Mid-South Clinical Data Research Network, also based at Vanderbilt and supported by the independent Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core, a partnership between Vanderbilt and Meharry Medical College.
Clinical outcomes will focus on improving care for patients with diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure and asthma, as well as boosting prevention efforts by encouraging vaccination and cancer screenings. A major goal is to reduce unnecessary testing or treatments by 5 percent and hospital readmissions by 20 percent by the fourth year.
The Mid-South PTN is one of 39 health care collaborative networks selected to participate in the $840 million Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, according to today’s announcement by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.
'Improving quality and spending health care dollars more wisely'
“Supporting doctors and other health care professionals change the way they work is critical to improving quality and spending our health care dollars more wisely,” Burwell said in a news release.
“These awards will give patients more of the information they need to make informed decisions about their care and give clinicians access to information and support to improve care coordination and quality outcomes,” she said.
The awards are part of a comprehensive strategy advanced by the Affordable Care Act that enables new levels of coordination, continuity, and integration of care, while transitioning volume-driven systems to value-based, patient-centered, health care services.
Click here for more about the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative.
About the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network
VHAN is a physician-led population health resource organization that provides the capabilities, expertise, framework and resources to clinicians, hospitals and health systems with the goal of improving the health of communities in Tennessee and beyond. Currently, the network includes more than 3,500 providers, 225 practices and 50 hospitals.
About the Safety Net Consortium of Middle Tennessee
The Safety Net Consortium of Middle Tennessee supports safety net hospitals, community health centers and about 250 clinicians serving 100,000 patients in medically underserved communities.
