The Virgin Islands HealthCare
Quality Improvement Organization
Press Release - Continuing to Improve the Quality of Healthcare in the V.I.
Continuing to Improve the Quality of Healthcare for the U.S.V.I
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS – On Aug. 1, 2011, the Virgin Islands Medical Institute, Inc. (VIMI) the healthcare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) in the U.S. Virgin Islands began its new quality improvement contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). VIMI is focused on three areas of improvement: Better Care for patients, Better Health for populations, and Affordable Care through lowering cost by improvement.
Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) are the largest federal program dedicated to improving health quality at the local level and is a practical tool for implementing key elements of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) National Quality Strategy (NQS). We protect Medicare beneficiaries by reviewing quality complaints and applying what we learn to improve the way providers deliver health care. We engage providers at all levels of performance in rapid-cycle projects for collaborative learning and action that accelerate health care quality improvement.
The founder and Medical Director of VIMI, Dr. Cora L.E Christian, M.D, MPH, said that “the Virgin Islands Medical Institute, Inc. is engaging policy makers, healthcare providers which includes hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, hospices, pharmacies, physicians and most importantly patients at the community level to improve the quality of healthcare provided in the V.I.”
We are excited that CMS has called on us to coordinate community-wide approaches to improving patient care in the Virgin Islands and we invite the community to join us. Our strategic aims for the next three years include:
- Improve Individual Patient Care: VIMI will work to make care safer for all patients. We will work to reduce the risk of infections a patient may get while staying in the hospital and to protect patients from medication harm by reducing medication errors.
- Integrate Care for Populations and Communities: VIMI will work to help patients move safely from one healthcare provider setting to another, (for example: from physician to hospital; hospital to home; hospital to home health care; and from home healthcare to nursing home).
- Improve Health For Populations and Communities: VIMI will work with physician offices to improve population cardiac health. We also will promote flu and pneumonia immunizations and screening for breast and colorectal cancer. VIMI will work with eligible healthcare professionals who use certified electronic health record (EHR) to report quality measures through their EHR systems.
We will also be facilitating Learning and Action Networks (LANs) that will allow us to bring together policy makers, healthcare providers and patients, in an environment where everyone will learn and share ideas and evidence-based tools that will lead to healthcare quality improvement in the focused areas. Currently there are (5) Learning and Action Networks: Reducing Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs); Reducing Adverse Drug Events (ADEs); Cardiovascular Health; Prevention through Promotion of Immunizations and Screening; and Care Transitions.
We need you to actively participate in our improvement efforts by supporting VIMI’s healthcare quality improvement initiatives, and partnering with us by signing on to one of our Learning and Action Networks (LANs).
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