The Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus (HCGC) is pleased to announce the release of the latest regional quality transparency report for the data period January 1 – December 31, 2019. Working in collaboration with regional healthcare partners, HCGC has identified key quality data that are meaningful to improving the health of patients in Central Ohio.
This is the second report that includes social determinants of health (SDOH) data collected through the Central Ohio Pathways HUB (the HUB), an organization of 10 Care Coordination Agencies operated by HCGC that assesses medical, behavioral, and social risks for our most vulnerable neighbors and connects them with community resources to mitigate those risks. In addition to the hypertension data that was included in the last report, this report features aggregate behavioral health data from the HUB. Going forward, HCGC intends to add additional SDOH measures, including breast health, diabetes/A1C, and pregnancy data to the report.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, health disparities have been amplified in underserved communities in the region, many of which are in communities where the HUB has been serving clients. HUB community health workers (CHWs) have been reporting an uptick in patient check-ins with their clients since the pandemic took hold in Ohio. From February and March, CHWs reported 59 additional patient check-ins, highlighting an exponential growth in education pathways regarding COVID-19 related measures such as stay-at-home orders, hand washing, and what to do if clients or their family members become ill. HCGC sees potential for CHWs to play an expanded role as contact tracers in Central Ohio to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, as they are already trusted, reliable caretakers in the communities they serve.
“It is our vision to have a functioning, integrated data system with multi-level reporting that can be contributed to and shared with providers and community partners to inform connections, performance, and improvement work,” said Carrie Baker, HCGC president and chief executive offier. “By integrating SDOH data with clinical data at a regional level, we hope to drive a cultural change in transparency and improvement, not just from a clinical and cost perspective, but also as a way to impact social and public health at a community level. As local officials call for a renewed focus on racial disparity in light of how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting black communities, we are committed to providing the data necessary to drive change, while simultaneously preparing our community health workers to support and protect our most vulnerable citizens.”
Regional primary care and behavioral health practices voluntarily report their performance by practice site using data from electronic medical records. Data reported represent all patients and payers and includes metrics related to colorectal cancer screening; depression screening, monitoring, planning, response, and remission; diabetes; diabetes nephropathy; blood pressure; and tobacco screening and cessation. This project has seen significant growth over the last year with more than 100,000 additional patient lives included in the latest report. For the most recent data period, a total of 15 primary care (including those independently owned, large physician group and hospital affiliated), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), and behavioral health organizations reported data for 201 practice sites that are caring for over 930,000 patients across the region.
The HCGC Quality Improvement (QI) Learning Group (QILG) hosts quarterly work sessions for clinical and QI system leaders to evaluate regional performance, set goals, and align improvement activities at a practice and community level. Since 2014, the report has been released twice a year, providing benchmarking, trends, and important insights to help regional partners as they strive for continuous improvement. HCGC has increased the number of practices from just over 80 reporting in 2014, to 159 in the report released in early 2019 to 201 this reporting period. The number of quality measures has also increased as a result of the collaborative work of the QILG.
About HCGC
As one of over 30 Regional Health Improvement Collaboratives (RHICs) across the country, the HCGC provides a neutral, safe space that brings together providers, hospitals, social service agencies, public and private insurance, employers, government, public health, patients, and consumers to improve the quality, delivery, and value of healthcare and the overall health for all people in the Columbus region. For more information, visit the HCGC website.
About the HUB
Managed by HCGC, the Central Ohio Pathways HUB is a neutral, central convener that connects our community’s most vulnerable citizens with healthcare and community resources and creates accountability for measurable outcomes. The HUB, originally created by Mark Redding, MD and Sarah Redding, MD, of Mansfield, OH, is a nationally recognized and accredited model designed to address the fact that many vulnerable and high-risk individuals are seeking care and assistance from many different community organizations. The HUB model allows us to find, treat, and measure the outcomes of these individuals in a streamlined manner.