MSVF announces TO GOAL™: COPD quality improvement efforts

March 2011

The Medical Society of Virginia Foundation’s (MSVF) latest quality improvement initiative, Together Obtaining Guidelines Optimization, Adherence and Lifestyles (TO GOAL)™: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), will launch this spring. Recruitment of family and internal medicine teams is underway and physician participants will be eligible for Part IV Maintenance of Certification credit upon successful completion of the project.

The TO GOAL quality improvement model relies on a guided, collaborative approach that utilizes a comprehensive curriculum of disease specific knowledge, physician leadership, and practice change training to translate guidelines and evidence-based medicine into routine treatment practices. This approach is of utmost importance with the management of COPD, the fourth leading cause of death in Virginia.

Core goals for TO GOAL: COPD include:

• Improve physician identification of patients with COPD
• Provide physicians and nurses with tools and resources needed to ensure their patients adhere to patient guidelines
• Help teams implement elements of the chronic care model and create a medical home for COPD

The TO GOAL: COPD initiative has three core components: a 2-day practice improvement seminar for lead physicians and nurses from each team at project launch; a six month project implementation period during which teams are supported by expert coaches and faculty who provide clinical guidance and practice enhancement in COPD; and enhanced collaboration, data reporting and resource sharing using the TO GOAL extranet web portal managed by Community Health Solutions.

TO GOAL: COPD is among one of many MSVF groundbreaking, physician-driven programs that allows primary care physicians to lead quality improvement within their own practices while completing necessary maintenance of certification requirements. TO GOAL achieves its objectives by utilizing expert physician and clinical faculty to guide physician participants in identifying best practices in care; developing achievable plans for integrating these practices into clinical care; and providing tools and technical assistance to sustain improvement in busy practice settings. This innovative quality improvement model was originally developed by Kurt Elward, M.D., M.P.H. Dr. Elward is the Foundation’s current president and medical director for quality initiatives. Learn more about TO GOAL on the MSVF Web site at www.msvfoundation.org.