Jin JL, Bolton J, Nocon RS, Huang ES, Hoang H, Sripipatana A, Chin MH. Early experience of the quality improvement award program in federally funded health centers.
Health Serv Res 2022;
57:1070-1076. [PMID:
35396732 PMCID:
PMC9441276 DOI:
10.1111/1475-6773.13986]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To describe the Health Resources and Services Administration's Quality Improvement Award (QIA) program, award patterns, and early lessons learned.
STUDY SETTING
1413 health centers were eligible for QIA from 2014 to 2018.
STUDY DESIGN
We assessed cumulative QIA funding earned and modified funding excluding payments for per-patient bonuses, electronic health record (EHR) use, patient-centered medical home (PCMH) accreditation, and health information technology. We compared health centers on rural/urban location, PCMH accreditation, EHR reporting, and size.
DATA COLLECTION
Organizational and quality measures are reported in the Uniform Data System, QIA program data.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Average cumulative funding was higher for health centers that were not rural (USD 380,387 [± USD 233,467] vs. USD 303,526 [± USD 164,272]), had PCMH accreditation (USD 401,675 [± USD 218,246] vs. USD 250,784 [± USD 144,404]), used their EHR for quality reporting (USD 374,214 (± USD 222,866) vs. USD 331,150 (± USD 198,689)), and were large (USD 435,473 (± USD 238,193) vs. USD 270,681 (± USD 114,484) an USD 231,917 (± USD 97,847) for small and medium centers, respectively). There were similar patterns, with smaller differences, for average modified payments.
CONCLUSIONS
QIA is an important feasible initiative to introduce value-based payment principles to health centers. Early lessons for program design include announcing award criteria in advance and focusing on a smaller number of priority targets.
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