14 Sep 2023
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MVC Announces Registration, Speakers for its Oct. 20 Fall Collaborative-Wide Meeting

MVC Announces Registration, Speakers for its Oct. 20 Fall Collaborative-Wide Meeting

September 14, 2023 | 0 Comments | , , ,

The MVC Coordinating Center is excited to announce open registration for its upcoming Fall Collaborative-Wide Meeting on Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., in Lansing, MI. This meeting’s theme is “High-Value Care for All: Collaborative Approaches to Equitable Healthcare,” and will focus on how interdisciplinary collaboration can support efforts to reduce disparities and provide equitable healthcare.

This meeting will include presentations on health equity frameworks for quality improvement, insights from claims-based data, and inter-organizational partnerships to improve patient outcomes. MVC is thrilled to be joined by Renée Branch Canady, PhD, MPA, CEO of the Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI), as its keynote speaker. Dr. Canady has extensive experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and was recognized as Crain’s 2021 Notable Executives in DEI. She received this honor for her work implementing incremental changes in health equity and social justice at MPHI. Under her leadership, MPHI established the Staff of Color Affinity Group, the Center for Health Equity Practice (CHEP), and the Center for Culturally Responsive Engagement (CCRE). She also recently published a new book titled Room at the Table: A Leader’s Guide to Advancing Health Equity and Justice.

The MVC Coordinating Center will also present MVC data linked with supplemental social determinants of health data sets, updates about the MVC Component of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Pay-for-Performance (P4P) Program, and other Coordinating Center updates.

MVC’s fall collaborative-wide meeting will also feature a new roundtable format with insights from a wide variety of guest speakers, including Nora Becker, Michigan Medicine; Diane Hamilton, Corewell Health Trenton; Matthias Kirch, Michigan Social Health Interventions to Eliminate Disparities (MSHIELD); Laura Mispelon, Michigan Center for Rural Health; Amanda Sweetman, the Farm at Trinity Health; Larrea Young and Noa Kim, Healthy Behavior Optimization for Michigan (HBOM); and Thomas West, U-M Health West. Attendees will rotate through several mini-presentations and discussions about specific health equity topics, such as demographic data collection and patient screening practices, developing and funding community benefit programs, addressing transportation access barriers, support programs within rural communities, tobacco cessation interventions, financial toxicity risks for patients, and more.

Attendees will have multiple opportunities to network and learn from their peers. The meeting includes a mid-day poster session to highlight success stories and research across the collaborative and the broader CQI portfolio. MVC is still actively accepting poster submissions through 10/5/2023 that feature first-hand experiences with quality improvement, related research, or the implementation of interventions and best practices. They can be on topics unrelated to health equity or MVC conditions/data, authored by clinicians and non-clinicians alike, or presentations already shared at a recent conference or event. Instructions for submitting a poster are available on MVC’s events page. The meeting also includes breakout sessions in the afternoon focused on regional trends and opportunities using MVC data and member insights, as well as an optional networking reception at the conclusion of the event, from 3-4 p.m.

Those able to attend MVC's fall collaborative-wide meeting may register here. MVC hosts two collaborative-wide meetings each year to bring together healthcare quality leaders and clinicians from across the state.

CME CREDITS AVAILABLE

The University of Michigan Medical School is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The University of Michigan Medical School designates this live activity for a maximum of 3.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Activity Planners

Hari Nathan, MD, PhD; Erin Conklin, MPA; Chelsea Pizzo, MPH; Chelsea Andrews, MPH; Kristy Degener, MPH

06 Sep 2023
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MVC Publishes its 2023 QECP Public Report as a Qualified Entity

MVC Publishes its 2023 QECP Public Report as a Qualified Entity

September 6, 2023 | 0 Comments | , , ,

Today the MVC Coordinating Center published its annual Qualified Entity Certification Program (QECP) public report for 2023. One of the requirements of being a qualified entity (QE) with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through the QECP is the annual dissemination of a public report created using claims data. MVC shared its first public report last year, making the 2023 report the second iteration.

As with last year, the 2023 MVC QECP Public Report provides unidentified aggregated data on Michigan hospitals for 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). Both measures were created using data from episodes of care initialized by inpatient hospitalizations or surgeries between 1/1/2018 and 12/31/2021.

For 2018-2021, the overall rate of 30-day unplanned rehospitalizations from home health among MVC member hospitals in Michigan was 11.3%. Risk-adjusted rates by index hospital ranged from 1.6% to 18.5% (Figure 1). By home health provider, risk-adjusted rates ranged from 2.0% to 23.6%. 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.

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

Across the 102 MVC hospitals with attributed episodes of care data underlying this report, the unadjusted rates of patients receiving outpatient follow-up were higher following index hospitalizations for CHF than for COPD (Figures 2 and 3). This was the case whether follow-up occurred three days (16% vs. 13%), seven days (45% vs. 37%), 14 days (63% vs. 54%), or 30 days (72% vs. 64%) after discharge.

Figure 2. 30-Day Follow-Up After CHF by MVC Hospital

Figure 3. 30-Day Follow-Up After COPD by MVC Hospital

For more information and the entire set of findings, we invite you to read the full report, which is available online to any member of the public on the MVC Resources page or directly 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 not otherwise available under standard CMS data use agreements. Reports located under the “QE Data” icon on the MVC registry allow hospital registry users to see unsuppressed data that include case counts <11 as well as utilization rates and average payments based on case counts <11. In addition, on any QE Data 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 drill-down information on any individual listed episode to learn more about the claims and price-standardized payments comprising that episode.

MVC members representing one or more MVC-participating hospitals can send an email to 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 to those registry reports.

29 Aug 2023
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MVC Data Used to Investigate Impact of Unmet Social Needs on Postpartum Contraceptive Use

MVC Data Used to Investigate Impact of Unmet Social Needs on Postpartum Contraceptive Use

August 29, 2023 | 0 Comments | , , ,

After childbirth, all individuals should have access to patient-centered counseling about birth spacing, and, if desired, contraceptive methods to help fulfill their personal reproductive goals. Promoting patient-centered contraceptive care and equitable access to contraceptive methods for those who desire them may improve population health outcomes.

Researchers and medical professionals are increasingly recognizing the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on individuals’ access to care and overall health outcomes. Unmet social needs may affect contraceptive initiation after childbirth by influencing individuals’ preferences for future childbearing, as well as individuals’ access to high-quality contraceptive care. To better understand this relationship, a group of clinician investigators used MVC data in a paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to evaluate the association between living in a neighborhood with high social vulnerability and the use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and sterilization methods during the postpartum period.

Lead author Michelle H. Moniz, MD, MSc, Program Director of the Obstetric Initiative (OBI), and her colleagues utilized MVC administrative claims data to identify childbirth episodes from Jan. 2016 to Dec. 2019 with outcomes including LARC and sterilization use by 60 days into the postpartum period. Social vulnerability was determined using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). The SVI measures a community’s economic and social resilience by integrating 15 U.S. Census variables to generate composite scores across 4 themes: socioeconomic status, household composition and disability, minority status and language, and housing type and transportation.

In 140,345 delivery episodes at 79 hospitals, 8% of patients initiated LARC devices, and 8.3% initiated sterilization by 60 days postpartum. Dr. Moniz and colleagues observed independent associations between social vulnerability and postpartum contraceptive use. It appeared that different SVI themes such as socioeconomic status, minority status and language, household composition and disability, and housing type and transportation aligned with varying use of LARCs or sterilization (Figure 1). Individuals living in neighborhoods with the highest socioeconomic vulnerability and minority status/language vulnerability were more likely to utilize LARC methods. Individuals living in neighborhoods with the highest household composition vulnerability were less likely to initiate LARC methods.

Figure 1. Adjusted LARC and Sterilization Use by 60 Days Postpartum (Using SVI Theme)

Conversely, sterilization was more likely among populations living in neighborhoods with highest housing/transportation vulnerability and less likely among those living in neighborhoods with highest socioeconomic vulnerability and minority status/language vulnerability.

Dr. Moniz and colleagues suggest that “structural factors—such as distance to clinic, fees for parking and transportation, clinic hours, childcare access, ability to miss work to seek healthcare, and out-of-pocket costs for healthcare—may affect postpartum contraceptive use.” They also note that more research is needed to fully understand the means by which SDOHs influence an individual’s healthcare preferences and choices. Additional investigations could shed light on the mechanisms by which unmet social needs influence reproductive wishes and access to patient-centered contraceptive counseling and methods after childbirth.

In all sectors of healthcare and medical research, but especially in maternal health where inequities in health outcomes have worsened in recent years, further studies must be done to better understand the impact of SDOHs. While medical advancements and the pursuit of best practices are critical to ensuring improvement in healthcare delivery, these innovations cannot impact outcomes for all patient populations until we understand the structural factors affecting patient access and goals.

MVC is committed to using data to improve the health of Michigan through sustainable, high-value healthcare. Therefore, one of MVC’s core strategic priorities is intentional partnerships with fellow Collaborative Quality Initiatives (CQIs) and quality improvement collaborators. MVC shares its data with clinical, administrative, and CQI experts for investigative analyses to help identify best practices and innovative interventions that help all members improve the quality and cost of care.

Publication Authors

Michelle H. Moniz, MD, MSc; Alex F. Peahl, MD, MSc; Dawn Zinsser, BA; Giselle E. Kolenic, MA; Molly J. Stout, MD, MS; Daniel M. Morgan, MD

Full Citation

Moniz, M. H., Peahl, A. F., Zinsser, D., Kolenic, G. E., Stout, M. J., & Morgan, D. M. (2022). Social vulnerability and use of postpartum long-acting reversible contraception and sterilization. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 227(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2022.03.031

24 Aug 2023
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Hospitals Receive PY23 Mid-Year Scorecards for MVC Component of BCBSM P4P Program

Hospitals Receive PY23 Mid-Year Scorecards for MVC Component of BCBSM P4P Program

August 24, 2023 | 0 Comments |

This week the Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) distributed mid-year scorecards for Program Year (PY) 2023 of the MVC Component of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Pay-for-Performance (P4P) Program. PY2023 scores achievement and improvement points for each hospital’s selected episode spending conditions using index admissions from 2022 as the performance year against admissions in 2020 as the baseline year. Hospitals can earn up to five points for each condition using the higher of a hospital's achievement and improvement point scores. This is the second year of a two-year (PY22-23) P4P cycle.

This cycle also offers hospitals bonus points for completing and submitting a survey for each selected condition by November 15, 2022. These surveys will be used by the MVC Coordinating Center to improve the program for future years and support practice sharing between members. The full methodology for this program cycle can be found in the PY2022-2023 Technical Document.

Figure 1 below illustrates the current distribution of total hospital points out of 10. The average points scored across the mid-year scorecards was 6.4/10 before including the survey bonus points. This is 0.4 points higher than the average points scored at the conclusion of PY22 excluding all bonus points.

Figure 1.

Figure 2 below illustrates the breakdown of average points by condition. Hospitals could earn up to five points for each condition. Consistent with previous years, joint replacement was the highest scoring condition with an average of 4.6 points. Much of the success observed for the joint replacement condition can be attributed to the shift from post-acute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNF) to home health and the move towards outpatient surgeries. Pneumonia was the lowest scoring condition with hospitals earning less than two points on average.

Figure 2.

These mid-year P4P scores are subject to change as new data is added. The final scorecards will be distributed after all 2022 claims are incorporated. Hospitals can track their score through the P4P PY22-23 reports on the MVC registry, which provides all relevant scoring information for both improvement and achievement points in one place (bonus points are not reflected on the registry). These registry reports can be filtered by selected conditions to make the tracking of P4P points easier. Contact the MVC Coordinating Center for a walkthrough of your hospital’s PY23 mid-year scorecard or P4P registry reports.

18 Aug 2023
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MEDIC Helps EDs in Michigan Improve Care for Adults, Children

MEDIC Helps EDs in Michigan Improve Care for Adults, Children

August 18, 2023 | 0 Comments |

Serving a spectrum of functions, emergency departments (EDs) provide essential care and services, operating in the critical space between outpatient and inpatient care. EDs also serve as a safety net within the US healthcare landscape by performing necessary clinical services for populations who may not otherwise have access. Patients visiting the ED may undergo a wide range of rapid diagnostic and treatment options, ranging from unscheduled procedures, laboratory testing, utilization of basic and advanced imaging studies, and admission of patients to the hospital. Despite the ED’s critical role and services, there are few coordinated, scalable efforts to improve care quality in the ED. These realities within emergency medicine made it a prime opportunity for quality improvement (Kocher et al., 2019), which was the impetus for adding an emergency medicine-focused Collaborative Quality Initiative (CQI) to the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Value Partnerships portfolio.

The Michigan Emergency Department Improvement Collaborative (MEDIC) was founded in 2015 to address the critical gap in coordinated quality improvement in the ED, including intervention design through implementation and evaluation, at scale, across health systems. Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) members recently heard about MEDIC and its work as part of the launch of MVC’s new ED-based episodes and reporting; MEDIC and MVC collaborated on the development of this new episode of care data structure.

MEDIC’s quality improvement efforts to date have included initiatives such as improved appropriateness of head CT imaging utilization for children and adults with minor head injuries, greater CT diagnostic yield for adults with suspected pulmonary embolism, decreased use of chest x-rays in children with respiratory illness (i.e., asthma, croup, bronchiolitis), higher rates of ED discharge for children with asthma and adults with low-risk chest pain, and increased distribution of take-home naloxone to patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) or who experience opioid overdose or withdrawal.

MEDIC Success Stories

Since 2017, MEDIC participating sites have significantly improved collaborative-wide performance on all MEDIC quality measures. By reducing unnecessary imaging utilization and decreasing unwarranted hospitalization rates from the ED, MEDIC positively impacted the emergency care experience for thousands of patients in Michigan who received more evidence-based care and fewer low-value services. These improvements also contributed to an estimated total reduction in the ED cost burden in the millions of dollars (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Zach Sawaya, MD, an emergency physician at MyMichigan Medical Center, reflected positively on the benefits of partnering with MEDIC on specific quality improvement initiatives. "MEDIC has pushed our group to be more cognizant of our imaging use, in particular in the pediatric population,” he said. “We've seen significant improvements in our rates of pediatric head CTs and chest X-rays that have been driven by MEDIC-provided data and decision-making resources.  In particular, we've seen wait times on pediatric head injuries go down as parents have been very open to discussion of PECARN rules and foregoing head imaging.”

The fact that MEDIC’s efforts support patients of all ages within its participating sites is unique; MEDIC is one of only a few CQIs with initiatives focused on pediatric patients. The MEDIC 2023 pay-for-performance incentive program, for example, focused on performance improvement on its pediatric-specific metrics. A key goal of this work was to ensure that children receiving emergency care in community hospital EDs received the same high-quality evidence-based care delivered in a pediatric emergency center. Since there are only three Michigan pediatric centers—all members of MEDIC—most children receive emergency care in community hospital EDs, and MEDIC observed disparities in the quality of emergency care delivered to children treated in community EDs. Children seen in community EDs were less likely to receive evidence-based care, as measured by our quality initiatives, than those seen in pediatric centers. In an emergency, patients can’t often choose which ED to go to, rather they need to go to the closest option. Over time and with participation in MEDIC, the data indicate MEDIC community hospitals improved their collective performance on MEDIC pediatric measures to be nearly on par with that of pediatric specialty hospitals.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting impact on EDs also put MEDIC in a unique position. Within days of the pandemic being declared in the US, the MEDIC team pivoted from its standard work to support the COVID-19 response by leveraging its collaborative-wide learning network to support frontline efforts. MEDIC rapidly assembled a platform for informal and formal discussion between member EDs, which manifested as a series of virtual town halls and Grand Rounds focused on information exchanges among colleagues to rapidly innovate and meet challenges as the situation evolved.

This series began with lessons learned from the experience of its southeast Michigan EDs where the pandemic first unfolded in Michigan. This allowed sites in other areas of Michigan to understand what they would likely experience in the coming weeks or months, giving them valuable preparation time. Over several weeks, these well-attended sessions focused on the following topics: conservation of PPE, management of COVID-19 respiratory failure, special considerations for the pediatric population, and supporting the wellness of the ED workforce.

MEDIC – ED Partnerships

EDs partner with MEDIC in two primary ways: data collection and collaborative engagement in quality improvement. To participate in MEDIC, a partner ED must establish a flow of electronic health data for all ED visits to the MEDIC data registry as well as provide additional abstracted data, facilitated by a data abstractor hired with support from BCBSM. This then allows MEDIC to provide detailed evaluation and performance reporting on all measured quality initiatives, which in turn helps facilitate and inform site quality improvement interventions. MEDIC provides member hospitals with a level of insight into their ED practice patterns that would not be possible without participating in the collaborative.

In addition to being able to understand their data, participating in MEDIC allows hospitals to learn from one another, which significantly shortens the learning curve for improvement. Each site’s emergency medicine physician champion and abstractor(s) lead local intervention design and implementation, participate in MEDIC tri-annual collaborative-wide meetings, and share experiences and lessons learned with collaborative peers. MEDIC provides quality improvement evidence, guidelines, standardized performance measurement, data visualization, evaluation, and support for local intervention efforts.

MEDIC currently partners with hospital EDs across the state. Any sites not currently partnered with MEDIC are encouraged to visit their recruitment page for more information on becoming a member and contacting the team.

As MVC continues to build its offerings for members, the coordinating center is cognizant that hospitals and providers partner with multiple CQIs. MVC posts regular blogs about some of its peer CQIs to showcase their activities and highlight collaborations with MVC. Please reach out to the MVC Coordinating Center with questions.

10 Aug 2023
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MVC Rural Health Meeting Summary: Delivering Value in Rural and Northern Michigan

MVC Rural Health Meeting Summary: Delivering Value in Rural and Northern Michigan

August 10, 2023 | 0 Comments | , ,

This Wednesday, the Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) held its first collaborative-wide rural health meeting for members. With over 50 participants representing rural and critical access hospitals (CAH), physician organizations (POs), and participating quality networks, this virtual meeting was dedicated to discussing the unique quality improvement efforts and challenges that exist within rural healthcare.

MVC Director Hari Nathan, MD, PhD, kicked off Wednesday’s meeting with an update from the MVC Coordinating Center (see slides). Honoring MVC’s 10-year anniversary, Dr. Nathan highlighted important milestones from the last decade that contributed to MVC’s continued efforts to deliver high-value healthcare in all areas of Michigan. Dr. Nathan shared updates pertaining to the launch of MVC’s new emergency department (ED)-based episodes, the recent addition of a CAH comparison group in its reporting, expanded CAH membership (Figure 1), and MVC’s plan to offer a rural health workgroup series in 2024.

Figure 1.

Following Dr. Nathan’s introduction and collaborative-wide updates, MVC Senior Analyst Julia Mantey, MPH, MUP, provided an in-depth presentation of MVC’s new ED-based episodes, which were developed in collaboration with the Michigan Emergency Department Improvement Collaborative (MEDIC). Read this recent blog post for more information on MVC’s ED-based episode structure and utilization or view Ms. Mantey’s slides here.

After introducing the components of MVC’s ED-based episodes, Ms. Mantey presented an unblinded data session illustrating ED-based episode data for MVC’s rural hospital members. When considering both rural non-CAH ED-based episodes and CAH ED-based episodes, chest pain was the most frequent condition observed. Due to its high volume in the ED, MVC produced unblinded rural hospital data using ED-based episodes for 30-day secondary ED visits among patients with a primary diagnosis of chest pain. In analyzing this data, MVC analysts discovered a correlation between patient follow-up rates and 30-day secondary ED visit rates. Patients who receive follow-up care are less likely to return to the ED in the 30 days following their initial index discharge, and the rate of secondary ED visits is smallest among patients who received follow-up care within one week of discharge (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Following the unblinded data presentation, MVC received input from participants about additional analyses that would be useful, such as evaluating the correlation between the availability of nearby urgent care facilities and the rates of primary and secondary ED visits. Such suggestions were noted as MVC works to expand its CAH and ED-based episode data reporting.

Following the unblinded data session, Ross Ramsey, MD, CPEM, FAAFP, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scheurer Health, delivered a presentation on common rural health challenges and Scheurer Health’s recent efforts to improve the quality of care for its rural population. Dr. Ramsey emphasized that rural areas are associated with higher poverty rates, larger proportions of elderly individuals, a higher percentage of patients who are uninsured, and a higher prevalence of chronic health problems such as substance abuse and illnesses related to environmental exposures. Dr. Ramsey highlighted several focus areas at Scheurer Health to improve the value of care for its patients: wellness visits, transitional care management, remote patient monitoring, and ED follow up. As seen in Figure 3, Scheurer Health increased wellness visit participation by 32.8% over the last six years. For more details about Scheurer Health’s strategies and success stories, view Dr. Ramsey’s slides here.

Figure 3.

After Dr. Ramsey’s insightful presentation, MVC welcomed Mariah Hesse, MSN, CENP, President of the Michigan Critical Access Hospital Quality Network (MICAH QN) and Chief Nursing Officer at Sparrow Clinton Hospital. Her presentation (see slides) provided an overview of core components of the quality network, highlighting its foundational pillars of success (Figure 4), in addition to featuring the network’s accomplishments and the benefits of participation by Michigan’s 37 CAHs. MICAH QN ensures representation for CAHs on national and state committees and serves as a resource to Michigan CAHs on performance improvement tools and measures. Her presentation also referenced several key priorities for healthcare in rural Michigan, such as meaningful benchmarking focused on outpatient care, recovery from challenges experienced during the pandemic, and improving healthcare access and equity.

Figure 4.

MVC looks forward to continued partnership with members based in rural communities to support the delivery of sustainable, high-value care through high-quality data analytics, collaboration, and innovation.

The slides from Wednesday’s meeting have been posted to the MVC website and a recording of the meeting is available here. If you have questions about any of the topics, contact the MVC Coordinating Center. MVC’s next collaborative-wide meeting will be in person on Friday, October 20, 2023, in Lansing, MI.

03 Aug 2023
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MVC Develops PO Post-Discharge and ED-Based Episode Reports

MVC Develops PO Post-Discharge and ED-Based Episode Reports

August 3, 2023 | 0 Comments | ,

The Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) recently completed the development of two new push reports tailored to physician organizations (POs). Both reports mirrored hospital-level push reports distributed earlier this summer and reflect MVC’s ongoing approach to refining and tailoring its analytic offerings to the patient populations and needs of its diverse membership. The first new PO report of 2023 was released in July and focused on post-discharge care, and the second is set to be released next week using new emergency department (ED)-based episodes.

PO ED-Based Episodes Report

The forthcoming PO ED-based episode report features MVC’s new ED-based episode data for five high-volume ED conditions: chest pain, abdominal pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and cellulitis. A hospital-level version was distributed in June.

ED-based episodes are a new episode of care structure developed by MVC in collaboration with the Michigan Emergency Department Improvement Collaborative (MEDIC). These episodes are initialized by a patient’s visit to the ED and include all claims-documented care received in the 30 days following a patient’s index ED visit.

For each of the five index conditions included in this forthcoming report, POs will receive information on risk-adjusted and price-standardized 30-day total episode payments, same-day inpatient admission rates over time, utilization of healthcare services across an attributed patient’s 30-day episode of care, and the hospitals where a PO’s attributed patients most frequently presented to the ED for a given index condition. Patient claims data were included for adult patients aged 18 and older who had an ED visit between 1/1/21 and 8/31/22 and were insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) PPO Commercial, BCBSM Medicare Advantage (MA), or Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS).

Among POs receiving a report, average risk-adjusted, price-standardized 30-day total episode payments for the five reported conditions were highest for CHF ED-based episodes ($16,936) followed by COPD ED-based episodes ($10,286), and lowest for unspecified chest pain ($3,714). Within each condition, MVC 30-day total episode payments were consistently higher for episodes in which the attributed patient had a same-day inpatient admission compared to episodes in which the attributed patient did not have an inpatient stay begin on the date of their ED visit.

A key goal for these ED-based episode reports was to provide insight into healthcare utilization following index ED visits. Therefore, reports included a dot plot (Figure 1) comparing each PO’s post-ED utilization for their attributed patients compared to the average across all 40 MVC member POs.

Figure 1.

PO Skilled Nursing Facility & Home Health Report

In July, MVC distributed PO-level reports on post-discharge care that included metrics on skilled nursing facility and home health utilization. A hospital-level version was distributed in June. The purpose of this report was to support understanding of care coordination opportunities and benchmark post-discharge care utilization.

This report highlighted various SNF and home health utilization metrics using 30-day claims-based episodes for MVC’s medical conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), atrial fibrillation, COPD, CHF, endocarditis, pneumonia, sepsis, small bowel obstruction, and stroke. A PO’s attributed patient episodes were included if they had an inpatient admission between 1/1/2021 and 6/30/2022 and were insured by BCBSM PPO Commercial, BCBSM MA, or Medicare FFS.

As with other PO-level push reports, MVC included several comparison groups to aid individual POs in benchmarking their performance for select report metrics. Each PO can compare their data to the average for POs of a similar size, the average for POs located within the same geographic region of Michigan according to MVC’s region designations, and the collaborative-wide average for all MVC member POs. Only POs with 20 or more episodes in 2021 and 11 or more in 2022 received a report and were included in comparison group calculations.

Similar to the hospital-level version, the first page of the report contained a SNF and home health profile table (Figure 2), which provided an overall look at post-discharge utilization patterns by payer as well as information about a given PO's patient population. The first three metrics reflected all attributed patients treated for medical conditions in this time period for the included payers and the metrics in gray were comprised only of attributed patients who utilized SNF in the 30 days post-discharge from their episode's index hospitalization. Overall, MVC found that Medicare FFS patients utilized SNF and home health services more often.

Figure 2.

Measures in this report include SNF and home health utilization rates overall and by condition, SNF and home health utilization rates among patients discharged to their home, inpatient readmission rates for SNF and home health utilizers, and a list of the most frequently utilized SNFs and home health providers to help POs understand where their attributed patients are going when receiving SNF or home health care after discharge. MVC presented 30-day overall SNF and home health utilization rates in a caterpillar plot format to showcase variation across POs. These rates varied between roughly 9% and 16% for SNF utilization (Figure 3) and between 19% and 32% for home health utilization (Figure 4).

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

MVC observed average 30-day inpatient readmission rates of 21% among attributed PO patients discharged to SNF (Figure 5) and 17.2% among attributed patients discharged to home health (Figure 6).

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

New Report Distribution Process

MVC piloted a new method for distributing its push reports when sending out the PO SNF/HH reports and is continuing that method for the distribution of its PO ED-based episode reports. Over the summer, PO site coordinators received an email from Dropbox as well as from MVC with a link to their PO’s designated Dropbox folder. Since then, MVC has been working to confirm that contacts are able to successfully access their designated folder and reports.

This new report distribution process will allow MVC’S contacts to access all available MVC reports in a single, secure location, and address some of the email firewall issues experienced by some members. Going forward, members may access and download their individualized reports using Dropbox rather than receiving reports through email. When a new report is made available to members, MVC will still notify all recipients via email with the details of the report. MVC plans to launch this new report distribution process with its hospital partners in the coming months, beginning with Program Year 2023 mid-year scorecards for the MVC Component of the BCBSM Pay-for-Performance (P4P) Program.

If you have any follow-up questions about your site’s latest push reports or the new report distribution process, please contact the MVC Coordinating Center at Michigan-Value-Collaborative@med.umich.edu.

27 Jul 2023
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MVC Welcomes New Analyst, Kim Fox, MPH

MVC Welcomes New Analyst, Kim Fox, MPH

July 27, 2023 | 0 Comments |

It is a privilege to be welcomed to the Michigan Value Collaborative (MVC) team as a Senior Data Analyst! As a new member of the MVC team, I am excited to learn from and work alongside a talented team of MVC coordinators, administrators, and analysts to help improve the health of Michigan through creating sustainable, high-value healthcare.

My public health journey began after discovering the field of Medical Anthropology. Medical anthropologists show us that medical practices are shaped not only by scientific knowledge, but also by sociocultural, environmental, and economic factors. These factors lead to substantial variation in healthcare practices both globally and in our own neighborhoods. It is this principle that underlies my work in public health and keeps me inspired. My goal is to help find compassionate, creative, and robust healthcare approaches that consider and balance these factors to help improve the health and well-being of communities and populations.

Prior to joining MVC, I served in roles that have ranged from research operations and disease surveillance to global healthcare consulting. I received my Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan (U-M) School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Medical Anthropology from U-M.

I am looking forward to working with MVC and its members to identify best practices and opportunities for continuous improvement through the analysis of clinical and claims data. If you have any questions or wish to get in touch, please feel free to email me.

20 Jul 2023
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MVC Calls Attention to Research, Resources During Week-Long Preoperative Testing Campaign

MVC Calls Attention to Research, Resources During Week-Long Preoperative Testing Campaign

July 20, 2023 | 0 Comments | ,

Prior to surgery, most Michigan patients will undergo a series of tests, such as blood draws, urinalysis, chest x-rays, or electrocardiograms (ECGs/EKGs). Many of these tests are unnecessary for healthy patients undergoing low-risk procedures such as groin hernia repair. Routine preoperative testing is widely considered a low-value service, and yet a majority of hospitals continue to order these tests. In an effort to drive improvement in this area, MVC hosted its second annual preoperative testing awareness campaign this week.

“For a patient, it is key they get the right amount of preoperative assessment,” said Dr. Michael Englesbe, professor of surgery at the University of Michigan, director of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan-funded Collaborative Quality Initiatives, director of the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC), and co-director of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing and Engagement Network (Michigan OPEN). “Too little testing and important risks may be missed, too much and patients may be exposed to critical risks of unnecessary testing and delays in care.”

MVC’s Coordinating Center supports preoperative testing de-implementation in several ways. One is providing opportunities for MVC’s members to collaborate and learn from one another. This year MVC launched a workgroup series focused on preoperative testing, the first of which took place in March. As part of its campaign this week, MVC promoted the next session in this workgroup series, set to take place Tues., Aug. 1, from 1-2 p.m. featuring guest speaker Nick Berlin, MD, MPH, MS. Those interested in this topic should register to attend here.

Another key strategy MVC uses to support preoperative testing de-implementation is through data analysis and reporting. MVC analysts utilize administrative claims data to calculate testing rates in the preoperative period, and then share these results with members as reports or as unblinded data at collaborative-wide meetings. More recently, MVC partnered with MSQC to distribute these reports more widely to support cross-collaboration between clinical and quality personnel at a given site.

These reports are an invaluable resource in benchmarking the extent of the issue statewide, says Dr. Hari Nathan, MVC’s director and the chief of hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery at Michigan Medicine. “MVC data can be used by hospitals and providers to understand how their rates of preoperative testing compare to those of other hospitals in Michigan,” he said. “By focusing on a homogeneous cohort of healthy patients undergoing common, low-risk surgical procedures, MVC benchmarks can help all hospitals understand where they have an opportunity to improve, regardless of facility size, resources, or patient population.”

Across the collaborative, MVC sees wide variation in preoperative testing for low-risk elective surgeries like hernia repairs and lumpectomies, with testing rates among young, healthy patients ranging from 10% to 97% across MVC hospitals. This level of interhospital variation is evidence that many hospitals in Michigan are safely performing low-risk surgeries without widespread preoperative testing and that even those hospitals with average rates likely have room to safely reduce their testing further.

MVC also sees quite a bit of intrahospital variation, with certain surgeries driving the overall preoperative testing rate at a given site. Based on the findings of its latest report, one potential area of focus for sites may be reducing the rate of cardiac testing; the rate of ECGs is quite variable across the collaborative and could lead to a cascade of care.

MVC shared its refreshed preoperative testing push report with members in April and also held a report review webinar in June to review the measures included. This webinar also included advice from Dr. Nathan about how to take action using this data. Dr. Nathan promoted several new resources developed in partnership by MSQC, the Michigan Program on Value Enhancement (MPrOVE), and MVC. These include a customizable decision aid (Figure 1), which sites can download to add their branding or modify. It is accompanied by a similarly customizable preoperative testing reference chart (Figure 2).

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Both of these resources are currently housed on a new Waive the Workup de-implementation resource website managed by MPrOVE, MSQC, and MVC. In addition to pages for the decision aid and chart, the site also offers talking points for debunking common myths about preoperative testing. For instance, one common counterargument to reducing preoperative testing prior to low-risk surgery is a perception that there’s no harm in ordering them, either because they are relatively inexpensive or because they are not invasive tests.

On the contrary, research has established substantial financial costs and risks to patient harm because of preoperative testing, which can and should be safely reduced. Mihir Surapaneni, BBA, a medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School, has been conducting research with MVC on preoperative testing and its impact. “One of the major theories for why there’s so much variability—and indeed just a high utilization rate—for preoperative testing is that there’s no perceived downside,” Surapaneni said. “Many of these tests are relatively cheap compared to the total cost of healthcare and indeed most of them cost no more to the patient than a stick of blood, but we really have to consider that there are costs. Preoperative testing costs billions of dollars in the United States healthcare system annually, and when you consider how strained the healthcare system is and how much of an onus there is on payers and the government to decrease costs, this really adds up. And secondly, we have to consider the possibility of testing cascades—which has been well-documented—in that a patient comes in having an abnormal lab value or test that actually had nothing to do with their intended surgery, and this leads to more and more tests which are expensive and potentially invasive. And finally, we have to consider that there’s established literature showing that even when an abnormality is found in a routine preoperative test, these abnormalities: 1) rarely impact the clinical course of the patient, and 2) rarely lead to actual substantive change in that patient’s care. And I think that we really have to consider these when we’re deciding whether or not we want to test our patients routinely.”

In addition to registering for the Aug. 1 workgroup, MVC has a third preoperative testing workgroup session scheduled for Oct. 26, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. The Oct. session will be a forum for sharing current successes or initiatives underway across the collaborative. If your hospital has a current initiative underway on preoperative testing de-implementation or has a low average testing rate, MVC would love to learn from you. Please reach out to the MVC team if you’d be interested in sharing your site’s story on Oct. 26.

13 Jul 2023
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MVC Reflects on 2023 Mid-Year Progress and Successes

MVC Reflects on 2023 Mid-Year Progress and Successes

July 13, 2023 | 0 Comments |

As the Michigan Value Collaborative continues its activity in the second half of 2023, the MVC team is taking a moment to pause and reflect on the tremendous work accomplished over the past six months. Here is a look back at some of the highlights.

NEW ED-BASED EPISODE DATA

MVC spent significant time and effort in Q4 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023 developing a new episode-of-care data structure initialized by index visits to the emergency department (ED). This work was done in collaboration with MEDIC—the ED-focused CQI—and the data science portion was completed by ArborMetrix. ED-based episodes were created for 15 high-volume, ED-relevant conditions from January 2017 through the present using all BCBSM, BCN, and Medicare plans for which MVC has claims data. Episodes were created for index events at all qualifying hospitals in Michigan. Over two million ED-based episodes have been created thus far, with plans to update and add additional claims data on a regular cadence. These data were used in the creation of a new ED-based episodes push report and are also available for use in custom reports for members.

ANALYTICS & REPORTING

Since Jan. 1, the MVC team has completed a total of 11 custom requests as well as six push reports, three of which were new:

  • ED-based episodes report (hospital version) - new
  • Skilled nursing facility (SNF) and home health report (hospital and PO versions) - new
  • P4P final scorecards for PY 2022
  • Preoperative testing report refresh
  • Cardiac rehabilitation report refresh

MVC COMPONENT OF THE BCBSM P4P PROGRAM

So far in 2023, MVC has been busy implementing and adjudicating the MVC Component of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Pay-for-Performance (P4P) Program. In March, MVC finalized and evaluated PY 2022, sending final scorecards to participating hospitals. PY 2022 was the first year of a two-year cycle for which MVC data was used to evaluate hospitals on two of seven selected episode spending conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colectomy, congestive heart failure (CHF), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), joint replacement, pneumonia, and spine surgery. The average total points scored was 6/10 before including bonus points, one point higher than the previous PY average. Consistent with previous years, joint replacement was the highest-scoring condition with an average of 4.6 points earned, while pneumonia was the lowest-scoring condition with hospitals earning 1.5 points on average (Figure 1).

After finalizing the methodology for the PY 2024-2025 cycle, MVC collected selections from all hospitals in early Feb. for one of five episode spending conditions and one of seven value metric options. MVC hosted two explainer webinars and five one-on-one meetings to support sites with their episode spending metric and value metric selections. The most common episode spending selection was for joint replacement and the most common value metric selection was seven-day follow-up after CHF.

Figure 1.

QUALIFIED ENTITY PUBLIC REPORT

MVC was approved as a qualified entity (QE) in 2022 under the Qualified Entity Certification Program (QECP) and continues to fulfill requirements to maintain QE status. In the first half of 2023, MVC continued to provide authorized hospital users with registry access to QE Medicare data that met program requirements. In Jan., MVC also published its 2022 Annual Public QECP Report. MVC’s first public report as a QE provides information on hospital performance for two sets of measures: rehospitalization following post-discharge home health use, and outpatient follow-up receipt following CHF/COPD inpatient hospitalization. The public report was published on the MVC website and shared with MVC contacts via email. MVC will refresh and publish its next annual public report this fall, adding two new years of data.

MAY COLLABORATIVE-WIDE MEETING

MVC held its spring collaborative-wide meeting on May 19. A total of 86 leaders from a variety of healthcare disciplines attended representing 50 different hospitals and 13 POs from across the state of Michigan. “Connecting the Dots: Celebrating 10 years of value-based care” was the theme, putting the spotlight on care transitions, care coordination, and MVC’s 10 years of supporting data-driven quality improvement. MVC was joined by guest speakers from Trinity Health IHA Medical Group and the new lung health CQI, INHALE. MVC also offered a poster session highlighting the work of several members and partner CQIs. MVC staff prepared a variety of unblinded data presentations, including a first look at its new ED-based episode data as well as unblinded breakout session presentations on its new P4P value metrics. Save the date for MVC’s fall collaborative-wide meeting, scheduled for Friday, October 20 at the Radisson Hotel Lansing.

WORKGROUPS

Over the last six months, MVC delivered a total of 14 workgroups, which were designed to provide a highly accessible online platform for hospital and PO leaders to come together, collaborate, and learn from peers. MVC offers workgroups on six topics this year: cardiac rehabilitation, chronic disease management, diabetes, health equity, health in action, and preoperative testing. Visit the MVC 2023 Events Calendar to check upcoming dates and topics and to register.

In addition, MVC launched a new Lunch and Learn series dedicated to MVC-focused activities and topics. The kickoff session in March included an overview of MVC and its offerings for new site coordinators or partners. The next session in June featured an introduction to MVC’s data sources, its episode structure and methodology, and an analyst-led walkthrough of one of MVC’s most recent push reports. MVC plans to host two more Lunch and Learn sessions later this year on other topics.

NEW COORDINATING CENTER STAFF

In June, MVC welcomed two new data analysts to the Coordinating Center: Kushbu Narender Singh, MPH, and Jiaying (“Janet”) Zhang, MPH. MVC published welcome blogs about Kushbu and Janet last month and looks forward to introducing them to members and partners in the coming months.

AND COMING SOON…

The MVC team is hard at work preparing for its first Rural Health Meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, August 9, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. via Zoom. The purpose of the meeting is to provide presentations and MVC data tailored to its rural or Critical Access Hospital members. This meeting will feature presentations by leaders from MVC, Scheurer Health, and the Michigan Critical Access Hospital Quality Consortium. RSVP here.