DP13-1305 Domain 3
Resource Guide

Primary Care Association
Find your state's Primary Care Association

Quality Improvement Organization
Connect with your local CMS Quality Improvement Organization (QIO)

CMS Innovation Center
Learn more about your states participation in various health care initiatives by visiting the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center. There you can search by state for "Where Innovation is Happening"

Quality Improvement Principles

• Listen to customers (patients)
• Tap into the people within the system
• Understand processes and interactions within the system
• Measure to learn and understand variation
• Test on a small scale to test change ideas

Model for Improvement & Plan Do Study Act
The Model for Improvement is a framework used by many to guide improvement work. The Model for Improvement, developed by Associates in Process Improvement, is a simple, yet powerful tool for accelerating improvement.

The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is shorthand for testing a change - by planning it, trying it, observing the results, and acting on what is learned.

To learn more about MFI & PDSA visit: Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Example using the Model for Improvement and PDSA for improving the detection of high blood pressure

Practice facilitation, sometimes also referred to as quality improvement coaching, is an approach to supporting improvement in primary care practices that focuses on building organizational capacity for continuous improvement (Knox, 2010).

Practice facilitators (also known as practice coaches, QI coaches, and practice enhancement assistants) are specially trained individuals who work with primary care practices "to make meaningful changes designed to improve patients' outcomes. They help physicians and quality improvement teams develop the skills they need to adapt clinical evidence to the specific circumstance of their practice environment" (DeWalt, et al., 2010).

Practice facilitators can play a key role in helping practices to implement team-based care by assisting with the set-up of care teams, redesigning workflows, clarifying each team member's role, and establishing more effective means of communication to strengthen team approaches to care. The Practice Facilitation Handbook: Training Modules for New Facilitators and Their Trainers provides exercises that practice facilitators can use to increase practice staffs' understanding of how using a team-based model to spread workloads and shift responsibilities benefits both care team members and patients.

For more information on how to help primary care practices use team-based care to improve the delivery of care, see Module 19 of The Practice Facilitation Handbook: Training Modules for New Facilitators and Their Trainers. You can download a PDF copy of the entire handbook free of charge at the PCPF Resources page of AHRQ's PCMH Resource Center