CSSI programs continue to make a difference
By Diana Wolford, CSSI Program Coordinator

Multnomah County Health Department staff are among 30 CSSI project teams that are working on implementing health care delivery improvement projects. Photo by Eleanor Gorman

We are better together. The goal of CareOregon's Care Support and System Innovation (CSSI) program is to foster a culture of evidence-based practice and continuous improvement in provider organizations.

Now in its third year of operation, CSSI responds to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) “call to action to improve the American health care delivery system” (Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century). The CSSI Program focuses on the six aims for improvement outlined in the IOM report by supporting organizations’ efforts to develop and implement improvement strategies that make health care more safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.

Click here for CSSI project summaries.

We are committed to helping to empower providers over time with the skills, knowledge and resources to be able to create the substantial change necessary to meet IOM goals.

This year, the CSSI program funded 30 projects. Four additional projects are completing activities from 2006. The projects represent hospitals and health systems, Federally Qualified Health Centers, nonprofit social service organizations, and physician-owned primary care and specialty practices.

The projects are participating in hospital, ambulatory care, and primary care renewal tracks. The four providers currently participating in the primary care renewal track, Central City Concern Old Town Clinic, Legacy Health System Emanuel Clinic, Oregon Health and Science University Richmond Clinic, and Virginia Garcia Memorial Clinic Cornelius, are organized into the Primary Care Renewal Collaborative (please see the article about the Emanuel Clinic for further information about primary care renewal). A fifth provider, the Multnomah County Health Department Mid-County Clinic, is gearing up to join the collaborative this summer.

Save the Date Mark your calendars for the third annual CSSI Conference which will be held on October 11, 2007 at the Oregon Convention Center. Projects will have the opportunity to present their successes and challenges to their colleagues and invited guests at the conference.

The hospital-based projects are all implementing projects related to the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Protecting 5 Million Lives from Harm Campaign (http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign/). Four Portland Metropolitan Hospitals (Legacy Health System, Oregon Health and Science University, Adventist Medical Center, and Tuality Healthcare), Salem Hospital, and Asante Rogue Valley Medical Center are using CSSI funding for IHI campaign-related projects. Examples of project interventions include infection control, reducing surgical complications, deliver reliable, Evidence-Based care for congestive heart failure and acute myocardial infarction, and reduce pressure ulcers.

Ambulatory care projects are also addressing a variety of evidence-based care for CareOregon members and other patients in both primary care and specialty practices. These projects include efforts at LifeWorks NW and CODA in Portland to link patients with behavioral health and chemical dependency diagnoses to their primary care providers with th goal of establishing medical homes for these patients. Other efforts include chronic disease management projects at Community Health Center (Medford), Northwest Human Services (Salem), the Oregon Clinic (Portland), and Pacific Medical Group (Multnomah and Washington counties), and quality improvement program implementation in the Portland Metropolitan area at the Pediatric IPA and Women’s Healthcare Associates.

CSSI recipients commit to participate in two CareOregon sponsored educational activities. CSSI projects sent teams to a 2-part improvement training this spring. The workshop included an overview of the principles of improvement, methods for documenting and illustrating improvements, and developing a measurement plan and strategy. The training was conducted by Sherril B. Gelmon, Dr.P.H, Professor of Public Health in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.

For further information about the conference or the CSSI Program, please contact Diana Wolford, CSSI Program Coordinator at wolfordd@careoregon.org or (503) 416-1725.