15 Jan 2025
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MVC Welcomes New Senior Analyst, Tanima Basu, MA, MS

MVC Welcomes New Senior Analyst, Tanima Basu, MA, MS

January 15, 2025 | Comments Closed |

I am thrilled to introduce myself to the MVC team. As a senior analyst at MVC, I will contribute analytic skills and past claims related working experience to improve the overall health of MVC member hospitals and their patients.

I am a senior statistician who has worked at Michigan Medicine for the past decade. My journey in the world of biostatistics began at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where I earned a Master of Science in biostatistics in 2014. I also have an M.A. in applied statistics from Eastern Michigan University and a B.S. in physics (honors) from India.

Following my graduation from SPH, I began my professional career as a guest researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. At the CDC, I had the opportunity to work closely with epidemiologists on public health projects.

In 2014, I joined Michigan Medicine, initially contributing analytic expertise to the School of Nursing. After a few years, my career path led me to the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) at Michigan Medicine, where I was first exposed to data analysis using claims data.

Currently, I have a partial appointment as a senior statistician in the department of cardiology for WIRED-L Center (Wearables in Reducing Risk and Enhancing Daily Lifestyle Center), which designs and tests mHealth apps. In this role I analyze clinical trial data to evaluate whether a mobile phone app and smartwatch notifications can help patients lower their blood pressure or improve their heart health.

In my free time I enjoy sketching, painting, and photography (nature). I also practice yoga and love to explore naturals trails. I look forward to working with the diverse group of analysts and team members at MVC.

18 Dec 2024
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Reflecting on Successes in 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025

Reflecting on Successes in 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025

December 18, 2024 | Comments Closed | ,

Over the years, it’s become somewhat of a tradition for me to use our final blog of the year to step back and reflect on what we have achieved together over the last 12 months, as well as look ahead to all the exciting things in the pipeline for 2025. December has well and truly snuck up on us but what a year it’s been.

In 2024, MVC’s engagement with our 105 hospital and 33 physician organization members reached new heights. During this time, we held two flagship collaborative-wide meetings and delivered 22 virtual workgroups, incorporating 33 different member presentations as part of these events to foster continued information and best practice sharing. It’s therefore no surprise that are our average attendance numbers at each of these engagement touchpoints were far above previous years.

Our new cardiac rehab pages and other registry developments also led to a rise in the number of people accessing our online platform, with a total of 121 new registry users over the course of 2024. These new registry pages have helped increase engagement with MVC’s cardiac rehab value improvement initiative and we just launched similar pages for our preoperative testing initiative. MVC’s data analytic offerings continue to go from strength to strength as well, with 18 different sites taking advantage of MVC’s one-on-one custom analytic reports and all hospital members continuing to benefit from MVC’s refreshed suite of push reports.

The MVC Component of the BCBSM P4P Program kept us busy this year too, with end-of-year scorecards for PY23, mid-year scorecards for PY24, and program selections for PY26/27. In looking at PY26/27 in particular, the Coordinating Center worked in partnership with members and the BCBSM Hospital P4P Quarterly workgroup to develop and implement a number of changes for this future program cycle. As MVC continues to ensure that this program is truly representative of the patient populations that members serve, Michigan Medicaid will be added to the program come 2026. This represents a big win and means the MVC Component is now inclusive of all MVC data sources. Elsewhere, changes have been made to MVC’s episode condition and value metrics menus, and a new health equity measure has been introduced. We’re pretty excited about this new addition in particular so please feel free to reach out if you want to get in the weeds and learn more.

In addition to all this great work, a personal highlight of mine has been the continued evolution of the MVC Coordinating Center and more specifically, the continued growth of those people that make it such an enjoyable place to work. We have welcomed a few new faces to our team this year and with fresh eyes comes fresh perspectives; we’re excited to leverage these insights as we move into 2025. Speaking of which, we have a number of new developments for the coming year that I’m excited to be able to share with you.

New Preoperative Testing Registry Pages

In June of this year, we launched four new multi-payer reports on our online registry. These reports evaluate cardiac rehabilitation utilization and encompass all metrics previously provided annually in MVC’s hospital-level cardiac rehab push report for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), heart valve repair or replacement (SAVR or TAVR), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and congestive heart failure (CHF).

Following the success of these multi-payer registry reports, we worked to add equivalent pages for MVC’s preoperative testing measures. Those registry pages went live on our registry at the end of last week, and will allow members to select specific preoperative conditions and payers, customize date ranges, and filter by patient characteristics. MVC will hold educational webinars in January to help increase familiarity and improve user experience with these new multi-payer reports.

New MVC Component of the BCBSM P4P Program PY26/27 Registry Pages

Another addition to the MVC registry in 2025 will see new P4P pages added to reflect the recent changes shared for PY26/27. While these pages will look and feel very similar to those currently available for PY24/25, the main update here will be the launch of a dedicated page for MVC’s new health equity measure. We understand the importance of making sure that members have time to become familiar with this new part of the MVC Component; therefore, in addition to reporting on it for informational purposes in 2025 P4P scorecards, this new page will be live for member use towards the end of Q2.

MVC Push Reports and Custom Analytics

MVC’s suite of push reports will continue to be refreshed throughout 2025 and, in response to member requests, we will launch a new quarterly push report calendar. This is designed to inform members of which reports will be delivered when and therefore help strengthen internal organizational planning. As mentioned above, MVC has seen great engagement this year relative to our custom analytics, and we will be looking to share examples of such outputs with the collaborative in 2025 to increase awareness of their value and possible scope.

Updates to MVC’s Suite of Virtual Workgroups

In response to member feedback and recent surveys, MVC’s schedule for virtual workgroups has been updated for 2025. Over the course of next year, members will be able to hear directly from peers and the Coordinating Center on the following topic areas: cardiac rehabilitation, health in action (ad hoc topics), preoperative testing, post-discharge follow-up, rural health, and sepsis. More information can be found here.

Site and System-Level Visits

Over the course of 2024, the Coordinating Center conducted a number of virtual and in-person site visits, both at individual sites and in partnership with systems. These visits are designed to provide members with a more in-depth understanding of MVC and its offerings, as well as providing an opportunity for the Coordinating Center to strengthen its understanding of member activities, priorities, and system-level practices. Sites are able to earn P4P engagement points for participating in such visits; if you are interested in getting on the calendar for 2025, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thank you again for your continued partnership throughout the last year and we look forward to more successes in 2025. Have a great holiday and a happy new year when it rolls around.

17 Sep 2024
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MVC Welcomes Rachel Folk, MHA, New Site Engagement Coordinator

MVC Welcomes Rachel Folk, MHA, New Site Engagement Coordinator

September 17, 2024 | Comments Closed |

I am excited to be joining the MVC team as a site engagement coordinator. I look forward to working with my fellow engagement team members, data analysts, and leadership to build healthcare improvement partnerships throughout Michigan.

I have worked in various healthcare related roles over the past seven years including skilled nursing facilities, senior communities, the Michigan Medicine Cardiovascular Center outpatient clinic and most recently in Michigan Medicine’s care management department as an administrative specialist. As I moved through these various professional experiences I also continued to build on my education; in 2023 I graduated from Central Michigan University with a Master of Health Administration.

In my last role, I had the opportunity to help develop an internal physician advisor program at the hospital. I found that I enjoyed process/workflow development, ascertaining valuable information from collected data, and participating in creative teamwork with a variety of healthcare professionals. I look forward to pursuing these interests with MVC and continuing to develop my skills and knowledge.

While professional development is important to me, I also have other interests that I enjoy in my free time. I find great joy in working in my garden, learning new plants, and integrating native plants into my landscaping to help support local flora and fauna. I also have an art background and enjoy drawing/sketching and painting, and love adventuring to new places with my family.

I look forward to working with MVC members and partners in the coming months. Please reach out if you have any questions.

11 Sep 2024
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MVC Publishes its 2024 QECP Annual Report as a Qualified Entity

MVC Publishes its 2024 QECP Annual Report as a Qualified Entity

September 11, 2024 | Comments Closed | , , , ,

Recently, the MVC Coordinating Center published its annual Qualified Entity Certification Program (QECP) public report for 2024. This report [PDF] was published in a new QECP section on the MVC website’s Data/Registry page and is an annual requirement for MVC as a qualified entity with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This was MVC’s third public QECP report and continued to provide unidentified aggregated data about Michigan hospital performance on two measures: rates of 30-day rehospitalizations following start of home health care, and rates of outpatient follow-up received after hospitalization for congestive heart failure (CHF) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

All measures in the report were created using data from MVC claims-based episodes of care initialized by inpatient hospitalizations or surgeries between Jan. 1, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2022. Claims were incorporated from all MVC payer sources, including Medicare Fee-for-Service, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, and Michigan Medicaid.

The reported overall rate of 30-day unplanned rehospitalizations after the start of post-acute home health care among episodes beginning at MVC hospitals in Michigan was 11.6% for 2018-2022. Risk-adjusted rates by index hospital ranged from 2.5% to 17.2%. By home health provider, risk-adjusted rates ranged from 0.0% to 23.5% (Figure 1). Patients whose episode of care began with an index event for endocarditis, COPD, CHF, or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were more likely than patients with other index conditions to experience an unplanned rehospitalization in the 30 days after they started home health care. Patients with a joint replacement episode of care were least likely to have an unplanned rehospitalization following the start of home health care.

Figure 1. Risk-Adjusted Rates of 30-Day Unplanned Rehospitalization from Home Health, by Home Health Provider

Results for the outpatient follow-up metrics remained similar to findings from previous annual reports. Across episodes of care for index events in 2018-2022 at the 106 MVC hospitals in Michigan, the unadjusted rate of patients receiving outpatient follow-up within 7 days after hospitalization for CHF was 44% (Figure 2). Following index hospitalizations for COPD, 36% of patients received outpatient follow-up within 7 days (Figure 3). For both conditions, there was wide variation across hospitals in Michigan in their 7-day follow-up rates after hospitalization, with rates ranging between less than 10% to over 60%. Rates of follow-up were fairly steady over time.

Figure 2. 7-Day Follow-Up After CHF Hospitalization by MVC Hospital

Figure 3. 7-Day Follow-Up After COPD Hospitalization by MVC Hospital

For more information and the entire set of findings we invite you to read the full 2024 report, available here.

QE certification status allows MVC to provide hospital members with additional data from Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) claims at a level of granularity which would not otherwise be available under standard CMS data use agreements. Reports located under the “QE Medicare” icon on the MVC registry allow hospital registry users to see unsuppressed Medicare data including case counts <11 as well as utilization rates and average payments based on case counts <11. In addition, on any QE Medicare registry report, members can click on specific data points to load a list of all episodes underlying that data point. From that episode list it is possible to view drilldown information on individual episodes to learn more about the claims and price-standardized payments comprising that episode.

Members may contact the MVC Coordinating Center by emailing Michigan-Value-Collaborative@med.umich.edu to learn more about data available through MVC’s QECP reports and to receive the forms necessary to gain access on the registry.

07 May 2024
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MVC Welcomes Emily Bair, MS, MPH, RDN as Site Engagement Coordinator

MVC Welcomes Emily Bair, MS, MPH, RDN as Site Engagement Coordinator

May 7, 2024 | Comments Closed |

I’m excited to be joining the Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) as a Site Engagement Coordinator. As a new member of MVC, I am looking forward to learning and working alongside this talented team of forward-thinking coordinators, administrators and analysts in their efforts to improve the health of Michigan through accessible, high-value healthcare.

Throughout my training I have always been fascinated by the intersection of physical and social sciences. Specifically, how healthcare and medical practices are influenced by social constructs such as race, education and economic stability. I was first introduced to this during my undergraduate education when I pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology & Biology at Kalamazoo College. I then continued in this vein of study earning a Master of Science in Biomedical Anthropology at SUNY Binghamton University and then a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Nutrition Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Following this portion of my educational journey, I decided to additionally train to become a registered dietitian and was honored in being selected for a Michigan Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MI-LEND) fellowship. Through these experiences I developed a greater understanding of the barriers to accessing healthcare for specific populations, namely women, children and the disabled, as well as a passion for educating both patients and providers in these issues.

For the last 5 years I have practiced as a clinical registered dietitian specializing in pediatric gastrointestinal disorders, surgical recovery, and developmental disabilities. I’ve also engaged with projects spanning simulated medical education, hospital volunteer program development, and clinical research writing. This collection of experiences has provided me with a unique lens through which to observe and drive future healthcare efforts.

As Site Engagement Coordinator, I look forward to working with MVC and its members to continue to identify equitable health practices and opportunities for improved health outcomes. If you have any questions or wish to get in touch, please feel free to email me at baire@med.umich.edu.

10 Apr 2024
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MVC Coordinating Center Releases 2023 Annual Report

MVC Coordinating Center Releases 2023 Annual Report

April 10, 2024 | Comments Closed |

The Coordinating Center published its 2023 annual report to the MVC website recently. It outlines key successes and activities accomplished last year and the new strategy guiding MVC's 2024 efforts. Read the report below or view the PDF Parts A [LINK] and B [LINK]) now.

08 Feb 2024
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MVC Welcomes Program Assistant Shannon Beattie to Support MVC Special Projects

MVC Welcomes Program Assistant Shannon Beattie to Support MVC Special Projects

February 8, 2024 | Comments Closed

I am delighted and grateful to have the opportunity to return to the Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) as a Program Assistant.  Through my experiences, I have become passionate about the intersection of clinical care and quality improvement, and I am excited to be part of a team innovating in this space.

I am a recent graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in biology, health, and society as well as gender and health. As such, I have just begun to venture into the multifaceted healthcare industry. With two years of experience as a DONA-trained birth doula, I have a particular interest in advocating for patient-centered care within the space of women’s reproductive health. In my free time, I volunteer as an on-call birth doula at the University of Michigan’s Von Voightlander Women’s Hospital, providing support to those in need during labor and delivery.

This past summer, I had the opportunity to work with MVC in the role of Marketing and Health Communications Intern. Working alongside the rest of the MVC team, I explored a new side of healthcare, learned about the impactful work of Michigan CQIs, and developed my communication and brand-building skills.

As Program Assistant, I look forward to continuing to collaborate with this wonderful team to improve the quality and value of healthcare in Michigan. If you have any questions or would like to connect, please reach out to shannobe@med.umich.edu.

25 Jan 2024
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MVC Welcomes Faculty Advisor and Physician Nora Becker

MVC Welcomes Faculty Advisor and Physician Nora Becker

January 25, 2024 | Comments Closed

I am a primary care physician, health economist and health policy researcher, and Assistant Professor of General Medicine at the University of Michigan. I’m excited to join the MVC team as a faculty advisor.

My research uses large administrative and financial databases to examine the bidirectional relationship between health and financial outcomes for patients. I obtained my Ph.D. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 2015, and my M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2017. My doctoral dissertation demonstrated that the Affordable Care Act’s mandate for insurance coverage of prescription contraceptives had a dramatic impact on out-of-pocket spending and utilization of birth control among commercially insured women, increasing their use of highly effective methods of contraception like intrauterine devices (IUDs). After completing my M.D./Ph.D. degrees, I went on to complete my clinical training in Internal Medicine/Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Since beginning my faculty position at U-M in 2020, I have expanded my research agenda by studying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization of health services and out-of-pocket spending among vulnerable populations, and examining the impact of health shocks and policy changes on patient financial outcomes using consumer credit report data. These novel data overcome a measurement barrier—the lack of detailed health and financial data for large patient populations—that has limited prior work in this area. My ultimate goal is to produce research that will inform the development of health and social policies that improve patient health outcomes and protect them from the financial consequences of illness.

I’m thrilled to join the MVC team as a faculty advisor because I believe strongly that the impacts of research should not stop when the work is published, but need to be translated and communicated to policymakers, providers, and health insurers so that patients can reap the benefits of what we learn from our work. MVC uses large administrative datasets and advanced analytics to help providers improve the quality of care delivered to patients in Michigan; this is exactly the type of research translation to which I’m excited to contribute. I’m particularly excited to help MVC expand their work in the areas of health equity, new data sources, and new patient populations.

 

11 Jan 2024
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MVC Reflects on Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Equity Opportunities in Healthcare

MVC Reflects on Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Equity Opportunities in Healthcare

January 11, 2024 | Comments Closed | ,

On Monday, organizations large and small will honor the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His work has continued to inspire the country on issues such as equality, discrimination, and systemic racism. As the MVC Coordinating Center approaches this national holiday, we reflect on the continued relevance of one of Dr. King’s famous quotations about healthcare injustices: "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.” Dr. King made this comment and others about healthcare discrimination in 1955, and yet almost 70 years later our healthcare system continues to grapple with issues of inequity, discrimination, and racism.

As a result, health equity is currently a priority across most major healthcare and government agencies. The MVC Coordinating Center has similarly identified health equity as a strategic priority in recent years and in its newest strategy refresh. This means that a variety of health equity conversations, reporting, and learning opportunities will be offered to MVC members throughout the year. In discussions with members to date, it has been evident that many are still in an information-gathering phase and desire advice around best practices. Therefore, MVC will seek to identify differing approaches to health equity across the collaborative through a health equity survey, which will be shared with members at the end of January. Members will have until mid-April to complete this survey, after which MVC will report aggregate results and facilitate connections between members.

MVC also plans to continue integrating health equity into its workgroup offerings, with each workgroup series (e.g., cardiac rehab, preoperative testing, post-discharge follow-up, rural health, sepsis, health in action) offering at least one session focused on equity. In addition, MVC is planning to offer a reimagined health equity report informed by the results of the survey that integrates supplemental data sets tied to social determinants of health.

MVC’s equity activities this year come on the heels of MVC’s fall collaborative-wide meeting, which focused on how interdisciplinary collaboration can support efforts to reduce disparities and provide equitable healthcare. The agenda incorporated the voices of key leaders and community-based organizations working to improve equity in care delivery, including keynote speaker Renée Branch Canady, PhD, MPA, who serves as CEO of the Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI) and is a recognized national thought leader in the areas of health inequities and disparities, cultural competence, and social justice. Key takeaways and links to slides from Dr. Canady and other guests are available in MVC’s meeting summary. The session also included roundtable speakers from community-based organizations, which helped to facilitate collaboration and networking to support direct patient support services. MVC will strive to offer similar networking and collaboration opportunities at future collaborative-wide meetings.

The MVC Coordinating Center wishes its members and partners well as they celebrate MLK Day in their way. We are grateful for your continued engagement and partnership on important issues as we collectively strive to provide high-quality care for all.

04 Jan 2024
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MVC Coordinating Center Looking Back at 2023 and Forward to 2024

MVC Coordinating Center Looking Back at 2023 and Forward to 2024

January 4, 2024 | Comments Closed

On behalf of the MVC Coordinating Center, I’d like to start by wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year! MVC had an outstanding 2023, which included celebrating our 10th anniversary and continued support of our hospital and physician organization members along with CQI partners.

Throughout 2023, MVC welcomed three new hospital members to the collaborative, distributed 17 push reports, grew its analytic offerings by adding ED-based episodes of care, delivered 24 custom analytic requests, hosted 24 virtual workgroups across six focus areas, advanced both of its value coalition campaigns, completed 37 member meet and greets, and hosted two collaborative-wide meetings. Additionally, several exciting improvements were made to the MVC registry, including new reports for payment and value metrics for Program Year (PY) 2024-2025 of the MVC Component of the BCBSM Pay-for-Performance (P4P) Program along with new measures and filters for long term acute care hospital utilization.

As MVC begins its 11th year, the Coordinating Center is excited to continue to advance the vision of more sustainable, high-value healthcare in Michigan. As highlighted in a recent blog outlining MVC’s refreshed strategy, there are a number of developments planned to advance our work in the areas of population health management, sites of care across the continuum, patient-centeredness, and equity. In addition to these strategic pillars, MVC has several operational plans for the coming year that I am excited to share with you.

New Engagement Point Menu for PY 2024

For hospital members participating in the MVC Component of the BCBSM P4P program, PY 2024 kicks off the new engagement point component of the program cycle’s scoring structure, which was developed as a mechanism for increasing and enhancing collaborative learning across the MVC network. Using MVC’s engagement point menu, participating members can choose the MVC engagement offerings that best meet the needs of their site to earn up to two points toward their PY 2024 score. Please visit MVC’s PY 2024 Engagement Point Menu for a complete list of offerings. For additional information on MVC’s PY 2024 engagement point component, you may access the MVC PY 2024 Engagement Point Webinar.

Actionable Data through MVC Push Reports

In 2024, MVC will continue to provide members with site-specific push reports to support quality improvement. Several new reports will be added to MVC’s suite of reporting in 2024, focusing on topics such as statewide health equity, pharmacy utilization, and alternative sites of care. The Coordinating Center will work closely with members, the broader CQI community, and other stakeholders to ensure the continued distribution of novel and valuable reporting.

Collaborative-Wide Meetings and Virtual Workgroups

The MVC Coordinating Center will host two collaborative-wide meetings in 2024. MVC’s spring 2024 meeting will take place on Friday, May 10 at the H Hotel in Midland, and the fall 2024 meeting will be held on Friday, October 25 at the VistaTech Center in Livonia. We are in the process of planning engaging agendas and are excited to see you in person at these events. Keep an eye on MVC’s blog as additional details are announced throughout the year.

Additionally, the Coordinating Center’s suite of peer-to-peer virtual workgroups will continue to provide a highly accessible online platform for hospital and PO members to come together, collaborate, and share practices. The 2024 workgroups will include series focused on MVC’s PY 2024-2025 P4P value metrics – cardiac rehabilitation, post-discharge follow-up, preoperative testing, and sepsis – along with a health in action series and a newly launched rural health series. To review the complete list and register for specific workgroup dates, please visit MVC’s 2024 Events Calendar.

Assessing Value and Site-Specific Opportunities

The MVC Coordinating Center continued its efforts in 2023 to help partners measure the impact of their initiatives from an investment and value perspective. MVC’s expertise in this area and its strong relationships throughout the CQI portfolio led to the commission and completion of three value assessment exercises last year with additional value assessments underway for 2024. Similarly, MVC continues to offer its members the ability to request custom analyses to better understand site-specific areas of interest and opportunity. If you are interested in a custom report, please submit a Custom Analytics Request and a member of the MVC team will follow up.

As we kick off 2024, I’d like to thank our hospital members, PO members, and CQI partners for their continued collaboration and support. We look forward to working with you throughout the coming year!