Latest Articles

In addition to the 2009 American Graphic Design Award (Quality Watch Oct/Nov 2009), IPRO has been awarded an APEX 2010 Award of Excellence.

In addition to the 2009 American Graphic Design Award (Quality Watch Oct/Nov 2009), IPRO has been awarded an APEX 2010 Award of Excellence.

Improvements in quality are essential elements of a national cost-containment strategy, according to a health reform position paper released August 2nd by the Obama Administration.

Five New York City-based hospitals will test an innovative approach to medical liability reform under a three year, $2.9 million grant from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is developing what it calls the first Medicare fee-for-service pay-for-performance program, under which end-stage renal disease (ESRD) providers face the prospect of reduced payments for failure to meet quality benchmarks.

Health plan enrollees have the right to independent, external reviews of adverse coverage determinations, regardless of which state the live in or what kind of insurance they have, based on an interim final rule published July 23rd in the Federal Register.

As part of its Patient Safety Theme, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has contracted with Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) across the nation to help healthcare providers reduce Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in their facilities.

At a health care rally earlier this year, President Obama, referring to Medicare and Medicaid programs, said that “The health care system has billions of dollars that should go to patient care, and they’re lost each and every year to fraud and abuse.” He went on to say “It’s estimated that improper payments cost taxpayers almost $100 billion last year alone,” and “If we created a Department of Improper Payments, it would actually be one of the biggest departments in our government” (New York Times, 3/1/2010). This month, we’ll talk about a new contract that IPRO just won to help reduce improper payments in Medicaid.

If you’ve followed the news recently over the recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator, you would have noticed that one of the ongoing controversies surrounds his feelings about the health care system in the United Kingdom. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his views about the British National Health Service, this prompts the question (in me at least), how does one compare the performance of health care systems? How do we know whether a health care system in a given location is “better” or “worse”? This month, I’d like to discuss a new project that IPRO has been awarded to do just that at the regional level in New York State.

It’s July, and for those of you who’ve worked in the hospital setting, you know that for most physician residency training programs, July’s the month of the changing of the guards. Junior residents become senior residents, interns become residents, and medical students become interns. Most studies of whether or not it’s more dangerous to be treated in a hospital in July have not found a “July effect” (though one study recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine did find a July spike in fatal medication errors, potentially due to new residents and interns). However, we do know that fatigue-related errors are a significant issue throughout the year, and one that IPRO is working to address in New York State.

As many of you know, James R. Tallon, Jr., the President of the United Hospital Fund, gave the keynote address at IPRO’s 26th Annual meeting last week. One of his early and recurring themes was the high and rapidly increasing costs of health care in the U.S., and the need for effective cost containment strategies. IPRO is already working on these issues, and in more ways than you may think.

An April Commonwealth Fund webinar on eliminating central line-associated bloodstream infections is now available for download.

Payers should take a flexible approach to payment reform, given the evolving but fragmented nature of the U.S. healthcare system, according to a key chapter of a new book addressing partnerships between physicians and hospitals.

"Health Reform for New York and the Nation" is the theme of the keynote address to be presented by James R. Tallon, Jr. at IPRO's 26th Annual Meeting, to be held June 8th at the LaGuardia Marriott hotel in East Elmhurst, NY.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is debuting a new website that provides detailed information on payments to hospitals and volume for specific DRGs under the Medicare prospective payment system.

IPRO has completed self-management training for about 900 Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes, under a special three-year program devoted to supporting seniors in underserved communities.

The game will be held on Thursday, July 15, 2010 from 5:30 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. at Caemmerer Park, Wentworth & William Street in Albertson, Long Island (same location as last year - directions will be provided prior to the date of the event). FYI - The rain date is Thursday, July 29th.

With the news coverage of Health Care Reform focused on insurance expansion and health care costs, it’s easy to forget that there’s a lot more to fix in health care than making sure that everyone has affordable insurance. Quality of care is still a key issue in health care delivery, and this week, I’d like to bring your attention to the work that IPRO performs with primary care practices.

First, thanks to many of you who sent comments on my first blog post last week (May 13)! This is clearly a work in process, and we will strive to continuously improve over time. This week, I’d like to announce the public launching of two of our products that support our health care transparency work, as well as comment on IPRO’s own commitment to transparency.

Each year, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) declares May to be "National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month". Since it's a peak season for asthma and allergy sufferers, it is a perfect time to educate our co-workers about these diseases.

One of the issues highlighted in IPRO’s recent participation in the “Best Companies” survey is that we could do a better job of communicating overall corporate business matters to the IPRO staff. As part of our efforts to improve in this area, we are starting this new Blog. I will begin to regularly post announcements of new business captures, as well as innovative new IPRO product and service offerings.

Many employee are still looking for a salary reduction form on IPRO.org - the paper form is no longer used. For a change to occur for the next pay-date May 7, 2010. Your change must be completed at Diversified before Friday 4/30/2010.

THANK YOU IPRO BLOOD DRIVE PARTICIPANTS! We are pleased to announce that our 2010 Annual Blood Drive was another great success with a total donation of 63 pints!

We are pleased to report that IPRO will again host a program to commemorate "Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day" on Thursday - April 22, 2010. Our program will be open to children from 8 to 18 years old and run from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Putnam and Saratoga Counties are the two healthiest in New York, while Sullivan County and the Bronx are the least healthy in terms of mortality and morbidity, according to a series of state and national rankings developed by the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The best way to reduce preventable injuries in hospitals is to require physicians to review their own performance data and compare them to the risk-adjusted complication rates of their peers, according to a nationally recognized expert.

IPRO's eServices Department and Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. have collaborated on a survey of the top hospitals in New Jersey.

Checklists and empowering nursing staffs to enforce their use can have a dramatic positive effect in reducing blood stream infections contracted in intensive care units (ICUs), according to a new book from a clinician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Physicians and group practices able to report specific quality measures electronically in 2010 will be identified publicly by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), based on new federal law.

An influential body that advises Congress on healthcare policy is recommending that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) develop quality measures in the fee-for-service Medicare program that would permit direct comparisons with the quality of care achieved by Medicare managed care plans.

The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is proposing a temporary electronic health record (EHR) technology certification program, followed by a permanent program under a new proposed rule.