Collaborating for Innovative Care – Learning Together to Improve Performance

In June 2006, a group of primary care clinicians and their care teams (clinical and administrative support staff) from multiple health systems in Iowa and South Dakota came together in Des Moines for the first meeting of a four-session Collaborating for Innovative Care Learning Collaborative pilot, a program organized and facilitated by Patient Infosystems, Inc., which has contracted with Wellmark to provide these services. The Learning Collaborative, focused around diabetic care, coaches care teams on the Wagner Chronic Care model, which is based on support of evidence-based guidelines and new concepts in clinical office practice.

The program, which was offered to selected physician practices in the Wellmark provider network in 2006, offers learning sessions and individualized coaching to help practices identify and act upon opportunities to improve both clinical performance and administrative efficiency. This model is promoted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and professional organizations around the country.

One Learning Collaborative program participant in South Dakota sees the data sharing as a powerful tool in improving patient care.

"The diabetes care improvements we're talking about today extend to everything we do. I get to see the numbers for our seven clinics and share them with our care teams. Together, we see the facts and decide where we need to improve. And because we use data, we know it's based on more than just how we feel we're doing. It's all about having data that our care teams can use to improve the quality of care we give our patients."

Ann Skoglund, R.N., Collaborative Coordinator
Prairie Community Health, Isabel, South Dakota

Welmark is looking to the future, working on ways to help make similar educational opportunities available to more primary care practices in Iowa and South Dakota.

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