Quality Improvement

The federal guidance for the Flex Program requires states to undertake programs and activities that support Quality Improvement (QI) activities of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). The Wisconsin Flex Program assists CAHs with various aspects of quality improvement activities, including program planning, data submission, data management and analysis, and best practice development. And, the Wisconsin Flex Program works with the following partners and uses these additional resources to assist CAHs with quality improvement activities.

Organizations and Partners in Quality

Statewide: 

• Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA)
• Metastar – Wisconsin’s quality improvement organization (QIO) that works with health care providers to improvement quality of care.
• Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative – Offering quality improvement services and programs geared to WI’s rural hospitals and CAHs.
• Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ)

Nationwide: 

• National Rural Health Resource Center – Resources, tools, and webinars focusing on rural hospital and Critical Access Hospital quality improvement.
• American Heart Association
• National Rural Health Association

Quality Improvement Resources

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – Rules, regulations, tools, resources, and policy briefings directly related to Medicare, Medicaid, and their impacts on CAHs.
• Hospital Compare – CMS’ public quality measures data reporting tool.
• QualityNet – Established by CMS and includes health care quality improvement research, news, data reporting tools, and other information used for health care quality improvement.
• Joint Commission – Includes quality improvement certification, standards, and measurement criteria for hospitals, including CAHs.
• Flex Monitoring Team – This website includes CAH specific quality and patient safety data, reports and studies.
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) –  Provides tools and research aimed at quality improvement and patient safety, health care coverage expansion, and addressing the Triple Aim.