The Regional QI Hub Quality Improvement Project (QIP) seeks to support ODM’s Managed Care Population Health and Quality Strategy by promoting population health for the Medicaid population and enabling health care delivery systems to improve performance, demonstrate value, and to reduce health disparities through interventions led by the colleges of medicine and health system partners. According to the 2019 OMAS, over 40% of Ohioans had either heart disease, hypertension, or diabetes1, and the overall prevalence of hypertension and diabetes was higher among Ohioans compared to the rest of the United States2. An investment in interventions that are designed to improve chronic disease, simultaneously with public health interventions, can improve population health returns. Collaboration across sectors can leverage the impact of existing resources to achieve population-level improvements.
The QI Hub QIP is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), and administered by the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center (GRC) in partnership with faculty and staff from Ohio’s Colleges of Medicine, including: The Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Toledo, Wright State University, Ohio University and Case Western Reserve University/Northeast Ohio Medical University. Each Regional Quality Improvement (QI) Hub is working directly with the GRC team, external QI leaders, representatives from ODM, and Ohio’s Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) to establish sustainable QI infrastructures that can be leveraged to implement and spread QI projects at the regional level to impact population health and improve health outcomes.
Employing a Hub and Spoke Model, each College of Medicine will engage a minimum of 10 spoke sites in year 1 to implement QI activities actives focused in the areas of hypertension, diabetes and maternal health. Additionally, through collaboration with clinical leaders and state partners, the project aims to prioritize a focus on patient, family and community engagement and social determinants of health to achieve the goal of reducing disparities in chronic disease management.
- Albani, T., & Rajanbabu, A. (2019). Chronic Disease Prevalence in Ohio: 2017 Findings.
- Ohio Department of Health. (2015). The Impact of Chronic Disease in Ohio: 2015.
