Improving Hypertension _ Diabetes Control and Prevention
  
An e-NEWSLETTER from Quality Insights                                                                                December 8, 2017

In This Issue
REMIND YOUR PATIENTS WITH DIABETES TO TREAT THEIR FEET TO A DAILY EXAM

feetA daily checklist for patients with diabetes often looks like this:
  • Eating Healthy: working on it
  • Getting Active: doing it
  • Taking Meds: as prescribed
  • Daily Foot Exam: oops!
feet Between 60 and  70 percent of people with diabetes have diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage), and feet and legs are most often affected. If nerve damage causes people to lose feeling in their feet, they could get a cut or blister and not know it. Without treatment, a small sore can become a hard-to-heal infection that can threaten a patient's health. Daily foot checks can help stop these problems in their tracks.
 
It's important to remind your patients with diabetes that there are lots of other things they can do to protect their feet and keep them healthy:
  • Always wear shoes and socks or slippers - never go barefoot
  • Trim your toenails straight across
  • Get active in a foot-friendly way, like swimming or walking
Encourage your patients to visit the Diabetes and Your Feet feature on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website to find more important tips on keeping their feet in shape.
five Healthy Eating Tips for the Holidays     

five'Tis the season for family, festivity, and food-lots of food. Temptations are everywhere, and parties and
travel disrupt daily routines. What's more, it all goes on for weeks.
 
When so many people are cutting lose and splurging on holiday treats and beverages, it can be a  particularly challenging time for people with diabetes. Here are five tips you can share with your patients that can help them stick to their diabetes meal plan during this festive time of the year.
 
Register for the CMS Region III Quality payment program Year 2 Webinar   

webinar Thursday, December 14, 2017
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

cmswebinarThe Philadelphia Regional Office of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites Pennsylvania clinicians to attend this webinar to learn more about the changes to the Quality Payment Program for Year 2 in 2018. 

Included in the discussion will be the new low-volume threshold for MIPS in 2018, the four performance categories, scoring methodologies, virtual groups, and the new All-Payer Combination Option for Advanced Alternative Payment Models starting in 2019. There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation.
take note to several cqm changes for year 2017 meaningful use 

changesThere are a few clinical quality measure (CQM) changes for Meaningful Use reporting in 2017, including:
  • For eligible professionals (EPs), there will now be 53 CQMs instead of 64 CQMs
  • EPs only need to attest to six (6) CQMs
  • There are no domain requirements - CQMs do not need to fall within three (3) different domains. 
  • The CQM reporting period has changed to any continuous 90-day period for all EPs
contact information

For more details about the Improving Hypertension and Diabetes Care & Prevention project, please contact Rhonda Dodson.
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Funding provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health through the State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control 
Diabetes,  Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health federal grant from the Centers for 
Disease Control  and Prevention. Publication number: PADOH-HD-120617