Introduction
The Northeast Ohio Quality Improvement (NEO QI) Hub is led by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in partnership with Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). The NEO QI Hub works alongside Ohio’s regional QI Hubs to support clinicians, their practices, and their patients with an evidence-based QI framework.
Focus Areas
The AHEAD Initiative focuses on enhancing a culture of quality improvement while implementing key, evidence-based interventions in 4 main areas:
- Proactive identification of patients with elevated blood sugar.
- Testing and monitoring of blood sugar, including a focus on enhancing access to continuous glucose monitors where clinically appropriate.
- Timely follow-up in team-based care for patients with elevated blood sugar using standardized protocols. This ensures that patients with elevated blood sugar receive frequent follow-up by a care team member until blood sugar is in control. Follow-up can be done by a dietitian, diabetes educator, primary care provider, clinical pharmacist, and/or behaviorist depending on a clinic’s available care team members.
- Multimodal outreach to address non-medical drivers of health to better engage patients in their care.
These interventions have proven to be successful at improving and sustaining blood sugar control in our Wave 1 and Wave 2 participating practices.
Our Team
The NEO QI Hub Project Leads include:
Michael W. Konstan, MD
Project Lead
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Shari Bolen, MD, MPH
Project Lead
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Rebecca Fischbein, PhD
Project Lead
Northeast Ohio Medical University
The NEO QI Hub team consists of professionals from CWRU and NEOMED, in partnership with healthcare organizations, patient advocates, community-based organizations, managed care plans, and state and academic partners, working together to improve the quality of health care for Ohio Medicaid patients.
Quality Improvement
Primary care practices in Northeast Ohio are recruited to participate in specific quality improvement (QI) projects. The NEO QI Hub supports practices in QI activities, including monthly QI coaching, testing interventions to improve health outcomes, uploading specified EHR data, and attending monthly webinars. Participating practices have access to resources including a Clinical Toolkit, Patient Education Toolkit, and podcasts, all developed for use in clinical care.
