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Quality Insights - Practice Transformation  
Improving Hypertension and Diabetes Care & Prevention   
Clinical Decision Support Workflow Modifications You Can Implement in Your Practice to Improve Care Delivery

CDS workflow mods When implemented correctly, clinical decision support (CDS) tools can help reduce the risk of medical errors and improve the overall quality of care delivery.  The Clinical Decision Support Practice e-Toolkit from Quality Insights offers a wealth of CDS information, resources and educational materials to Delaware's healthcare professionals. If you have not yet taken the opportunity to review the toolkit, we encourage you to do so.

As an active participant in our Hypertension and Diabetes project, Quality Insights is requesting your participation in implementing at least ONE workflow improvement related to CDS.  Download the CDS Workflow Modifications handout from Quality Insights which provides a list of basic modifications you can implement in your practice.

Quality Insights is available to support your workflow modification efforts - at no cost to your practice - so please email Ashley Biscardi if any of the below workflow modifications and/or training opportunities are of interest to your practice.
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Addressing Medication Adherence at Every Visit Will Help Improve Medication Taking Behaviors 

patients with doc Medications to treat hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other chronic conditions are highly effective against these diseases and are widely available. However, the broad benefits of these drugs are not realized because a large proportion of patients are not taking these medicines the way they are prescribed.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, "only 50 percent of patients with
chronic illnesses maintain 'good adherence' (taking >80 percent of medication doses) over time." For conditions that require multiple medications, such as diabetes, adherence is even lower. Although adherence has been found to be the most important modifiable factor that can affect treatment outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes, providers struggle to improve adherence among their patients.

Patients are often reluctant to tell their doctor that they do not take their medicines. Unless a patient's medication-taking behavior is understood, therapy may be needlessly escalated. This results in increased costs to the patient and healthcare system, potential harm to the patient and unnecessary work on the part of the practice during the visit. Medication nonadherence can lead to unnecessary hospitalization and emergency room visits, which can add to overall health care costs. The practice team can help identify and improve patients' adherence to their medications.
                    
Quality Insights has developed a Medication Adherence Protocol which outlines a process that practices can use to ensure that medication adherence is addressed at every office visit.
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Download the Customizable Diabetes/Hypertension Care Team Template from Quality Insights

huddle Care teams deliver comprehensive, first-contact care and address the needs of patients and families through a broad range of services delivered by multidisciplinary professionals. In the team-based care model, all care team members contribute to the health of the patients by working at the top of their licensure and skill set.  In many cases, team-based care decreases costs and increases revenue.

Quality Insights has developed a Diabetes/Hypertension Care Team Template which can be used to define care team operations, identify staff member responsibility to improve efficiency and quality of care for patients, and provide a model for use in primary care settings.

This resource is available in both PDF and Word formats and are completely customizable by practices.  
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Your Response is Needed to the Quality Insights Hypertension & Diabetes Assessment

check mark Quality Insights is working with the Delaware Division of Public Health to encourage practices to implement guidelines that will improve the treatment and follow-up care for patients who have either hypertension and/or diabetes.

Click here to access a brief assessment that requests information on protocols or procedures that you are using to treat and follow-up on these chronic diseases.

Please be assured that your practice data will never be shared outside of Quality Insights. Thank you in advance for your prompt response.
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Contacts:
1.877.987.4687, Ext. 137

1.877.987.4687, Ext. 127
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This publication was supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP004799-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.