ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Altarum Institute is excited to announce that it will lead the Michigan arm of a three-state quality improvement effort funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network (GLPTN) is a three-state coalition led by Indiana University and made up of 32 health care partners, including four Regional Extension Centers, three State Departments of Health, five Health Information Exchanges, and eight Universities. GLPTN has an overall goal of transforming the practices of 11,500 clinical providers across the Midwest into learning practices capable of delivering improved care at a lower cost for a population of more than 10 million Americans.
The efforts in Michigan will focus on providing high-value, clinically relevant, and cost-efficient assistance to 4,000 clinicians in their pursuit of patient-centric practice transformation. Services delivered by Altarum quality improvement advisors will consist of practice coaching and quality improvement initiatives with techniques built on the principles of implementation science, lean process improvement, and population health management. The advisors will also help physicians navigate quality reporting requirements and participate in the Physician Quality Reporting System and other value-based payment initiatives.
“This award builds on our previous work accelerating electronic health record adoption through the Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption (M-CEITA) and our work to promote clinical decision support use in Michigan physician offices,” said Dan Armijo, vice president of health innovation at Altarum. Practice-specific quality improvement priorities will be pursued to reduce unnecessary testing and avoidable hospitalizations and improve care for patients with high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, depression, and diabetes.
GLPTN operations in Michigan will be led by Branis Pesich, director of Altarum’s Center for Appropriate Care. Working in close partnership with Altarum are the Michigan Center for Rural Health, McLaren Health Care, Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions, Wayne State University, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Working together, we will improve the quality of care for more than 3 million Michigan residents.
Altarum Institute (www.altarum.org) integrates objective research and client-centered consulting skills to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. Altarum employs almost 400 individuals and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with additional offices in the Washington, DC, area; Portland, Maine; and San Antonio, Texas.
