Health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.” Health inequities are reflected in differences in length of life; quality of life; rates of disease, disability, and death; severity of disease; and access to treatment.

Expert Support for Your Team,
Better Health for Your Patients

KHC—in partnership with HQIN, the Quality Improvement Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) in Kansas—is building collaborative community coalitions that include hospitals, clinicians, pharmacists, home health agencies, and community-based organizations. These community-based partnerships are being facilitated in targeted zip codes statewide by KHC quality improvement advisors.

A new CMS-led initiative called the Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) is beginning now to provide continued support in quality and patient safety to eligible hospitals.  HQIC will build effectively upon the achievements of the recent Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN).

Over the next four years, HQIC will support rural and critical access hospitals, as well as those hospitals serving vulnerable populations. Altogether, CMS has identified more than 2,600 hospitals nationally that are eligible to participate, including more than 100 hospitals in Kansas.

KHC and KHA are pleased to partner with the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative as part of the Compass HQIC Network, which will serve hospitals in Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, and South Dakota. As part of the Compass Network, KHC and its partners will provide enrolled hospitals valued services, technical assistance, data, and intervention support as part of this initiative.

In an effort to align quality improvement efforts in Kansas, the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative has partnered with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Bureau of Health Promotion to enhance partnerships between providers and community-based individuals and organizations to improve care coordination, to identify patients who are at a higher risk for developing chronic diseases, to increase screenings for cervical, breast, and colorectal cancers, and to better connect patients to evidence-based resources and other community health programs to support self-management.

The full Community Health Resource Guide with program details can be found here (pdf).
Specific programs include:

• Early Detection Works Program
• EnhanceFitness
• Stepping On
• Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP)
• Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP)
• Diabetes Self-Management Program (DSMP)

Additional KDHE-CDC Resources

• High Blood Pressure Among Kansas Adults (KDHE)
• Hypertension Control: Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (KDHE)
• Hiding in Plain Sight: Finding Undiagnosed Hypertension (KDHE)
• Implementing Hypertension Management Protocols (KDHE)
• Utilizing Team-Based Care to Improve Hypertension and Diabetes Outcomes (KDHE)
• Preventing Type 2 Diabetes (CDC)

Members of the advisory group for the Kansas Healthcare-Associated Infections & Anti-microbial Resistance Program

Antimicrobial Stewardship and HAI Prevention

Antibiotics save lives, but any time antibiotics are used, they can cause side effects and lead to antibiotic resistance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 47 million antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessarily given in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms across the U.S. each year, which makes improving antibiotic prescribing and use a national priority. The CDC also reports that drug-resistant bacteria cause 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses each year.

KHC partners with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to advance its Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program statewide. Antimicrobial Stewardship also has been a focus in recent KHC hospital-based patient safety initiatives.

A variety of learning opportunities and resources are available in support of efforts by hospitals, clinicians, and others who are leading this important work.