Primary care physicians make impact on asthma care
15 September 2010
The MSV Foundation’s Improving Asthma Care and Treatment™ (IMPACT) program has engaged over 100 family medicine and pediatric physicians in a comprehensive, quality improvement project since 2008. Participating physicians and their care teams implement guidelines-based improvement projects with support from coaches, expert faculty and quality improvement leaders. Eligible physicians participating in IMPACT™ receive Part IV Maintenance of Certification credit from the American Board of Family Medicine or the American Board of Pediatrics.
Kurt Elward, MD, MPH, the project's Medical Director said, "IMPACT™'s goal was to make it 'Easy to Breathe Easy' for patients and their physicians. Our intent was to provide the support and tools busy doctors and their staff need to deliver the excellent care they desire in a way that builds up their practice."
Preliminary results from the family medicine project show marked improvement on several key indicators including, documenting frequency of short-acting inhaler use (64% to 91%), use of an asthma control tool (1% to 65%) , and discussion of environmental asthma triggers (33% to 69%). In addition, several of the teams made significant process improvements to the way they deliver asthma care. "It was great to see physicians and their staff take the ball and run, coming up with great ideas of their own and using the tools we provided to give their patients excellent care and make their office systems run far more smoothly", said Dr. Elward. A final IMPACT™ report will be available on the MSVF website in late fall.
Currently 5 pediatric teams led by, Helen Ragazzi, MD, are participating in IMPACT™ Pediatrics launched in summer 2010. This expansion is one of 12 demonstration projects funded through the National Asthma Control Initiative. Other supporters include Merck and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Virginia Chapter (Virginia AAP). MSVF partnered with the Virginia AAP to recruit following practice teams:
- Carilion Botetourt Pediatrics, Roanoke
- Fairfax Pediatrics, Fairfax
- Pediatric Center, Richmond
- UVA Primary care Pediatrics, Charlottesville
- Virginia Pediatric Group, Fairfax
Physician and nurse leaders from each team convened at MSV headquarters on July 24 to attend the Practice Improvement Seminar. A key part of the day included the workshop: “Health Quality Innovation” presented by Steve Horan, PhD of
Community Health Solutions, a long-time partner of the MSVF. Hedley Sipe, NP, MSN, AE-C, the nurse coach for the project, led a breakout session for nurse leaders on asthma device training and patient education tools. Over the next 9 months, physicians and their teams are implementing their asthma improvement projects.
For more information on this and other MSVF Quality Initiatives, visit:
MSV Foundation Quality Improvement Initiatives.