MPRO QUARTERLY
Spring 2020
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Thank you to everyone working to keep all of us safe. We appreciate your selfless dedication. ~ MPRO Team
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Partnering with MPRO Proves Successful
Honor Community Health had struggled with getting patients to come to the clinic to get their blood pressure measured. It was equally difficult for them to get patients with
hypertension
to return to the clinic to properly manage their blood pressure.
Harpreet Preeti Grewal, MPH, MBA, population health specialist at Honor Community Health, and her team identified two areas to improve regarding
hypertension
:
1. Blood pressure competency could be improved for medical assistants; and
2. Patients diagnosed with
hypertension
were not returning to the clinic or controlling their high blood pressure.
Read more
to find out how Harpreet and her Quality Workgroup Committee, worked with MPRO to achieve success!
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Becoming a Workplace of Tomorrow
When the coronavirus hit earlier this year, many businesses had to scramble to reconfigure their office operations so employees could work exclusively from home. Not MPRO.
“Prior to Leland Babitch, our President and CEO, joining MPRO, we could not have effectively transitioned to total work-from-home staffing in the face of this crisis,” said Michael Wagner, VP and Chief Information Officer, and the person who led the team that enabled MPRO’s workforce to work exclusively from home. “Technologically speaking, Leland supported us in moving from the 20
th
to the 21
st
century.” Before the IT upgrade began in 2017, most employees still had workstations in the corporate office, and very few had virtual private network (VPN) access to the company network. In fact, we did not even have wireless connectivity in the office, and the internet connection was slow.
We implemented a full infrastructure upgrade, including establishing a new firewall with full VPN capabilities and new, unified communication services via Cisco telephones and the Jabber application. We gave every employee a laptop and we equipped the office with wireless connectivity – employing our upgraded 200M fiber connection. To help reduce failures in the system, IT “virtualized” approximately 25 servers into a single Unified Computing System. They also improved the Data Center, providing a physical space that was more suited to MPRO’s new and improved technical capabilities.
In 2018, MPRO’s PACER Call Center nurses were able to successfully work from home. Soon after that, all other employees could work from home on certain days.
“MPRO has been focused on becoming the workplace of tomorrow,” said Leland. “It is clear the key to success will be attracting talented people from all over the country. Our first step is to make sure that any employee can complete his or her work from anywhere. Our seamless transition from working remotely on a part-time basis to an entirely remote workday during this pandemic emergency is evidence MPRO is ready for the future.”
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All-Care-Settings Open Calls for COVID-19
Since MPRO is one of the few agencies in Michigan that touches the entire healthcare continuum of care, including community-based organizations, it stands to reason we would have a special role in connecting providers as they face the COVID-19 pandemic.
In mid-March, a Henry Ford Health System partner asked Barb Link, LMSW, senior quality consultant, if MPRO could convene a phone call with all healthcare partners to discuss processes, resources, and ideas to help respond to the crisis.
Within two days of the request, MPRO hosted the call and drew nearly 30 Michigan-based participants. By the next week, the call was rolled out to our partners from Superior Health Quality Alliance, representing Wisconsin and Minnesota; the audience ballooned to nearly 200 participants! The format is a 15-minute presentation followed by open discussions, lasting 30 minutes to an hour.
Some topics have been:
- Using techniques to protect clinicians’ family members;
- Implementing telehealth;
- Initiating advanced care planning conversations; and
- Using a free program, developed in part by Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan, hospitals and nursing homes can anticipate their needs during a crisis.
“I really appreciate that we were able to get this up and running so fast,” said Barb. “It feels good to be able to connect everyone so they could help each other. They are on the front lines living it; we will do everything we can to support them.”
The weekly calls will continue as long as the community needs them. If you would like to register for the calls, contact Barb at 248-465-7333 or
blink@mpro.org
.
Thank you to everyone working to keep us safe.
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MPRO Builds Virtual Desktop Application
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MPRO has created and is now testing a Virtual Desktop for reviewers to use for Veteran’s Administration (
VA
)
Peer Review cases. Traditionally, we had used the secure file exchange system for peer review. However, given the volume of cases we perform for the VA, more than 100 each month, the Virtual Desktop (VDT) will be a “one-stop shop.”
The site will provide access to the Case File, which includes all the primary files and materials needed to complete a peer review; Internet Explorer functionality to open the Community Viewer, which permits all authorized parties to view the case; the Knowledge Center, which will house various clinical resources; and the Resource Folder, including time sheets, conflict of interest documents and other helpful tools.
The VDT is being tested by six reviewers who are providing real-time feedback. This information will help IT staff streamline and build a much more user-friendly system for reviewers.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to be part of testing this new, innovative technology,” said Meri Trajkovski, MPRO’s director of review services. “The VDT will allow our reviewers to easily access and complete case reviews using one cohesive format.”
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I AM MPRO
Alyson Burtle, RN, is a nurse review coordinator who has been with MPRO for 12 years. Alyson is responsible for processing requests for preauthorization of medical supplies, elective admissions, transfers, re-admissions within 15 days, long-term acute care and rehabilitation stays, among other duties.
After earning an Associate degree from Macomb Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit, she had her choice of opportunities in various healthcare environments. Her career over the past 35 years has included experience in patient care, telemetry, intensive care/intermediate care units, case management, and healthcare surveys as well as review services at MPRO.
Passion for our Mission
“MPRO has always been more than a job, as I have believed in MPRO’s mission since I became a nurse. I wanted to work for MPRO since I graduated from my baccalaureate program,” said Alyson. “MPRO turned out to be a great place to work, not only because of the work, but also because of the people. MPRO has attracted the best in the business.”
Alyson believes that by doing her job well, she and other nurses are helping control costs, thereby ensuring that funds are available to those most in need. “Our department also processes appeals and reconsideration requests to ensure the rights of both beneficiaries and providers are protected,” she said.
For Alyson, MPRO is a perfect fit. “MPRO inspired me to achieve the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality credential. I strive to conduct impartial review services with a quality approach to carry on the quality improvement mission MPRO has had since its inception,” said Alyson.
Personal Interests
For fun, Alyson enjoys planning family activities, walking, biking, movies and theater productions. She also enjoys good comedy on television and listening to music, her current favorite artist is Adam Lambert. Volunteer work has included Meals on Wheels and helping local community groups keep neighborhoods clean. She especially values the time she spends with her husband and her dog.
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Free, Innovative COVID-19 Staffing Tool
Volunteers from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan, and the Procedural Learning and Safety Collaborative (a nonprofit research collaborative) have created a
free resource
hospitals of any size can use to anticipate their staffing and personal protective equipment (PPE) needs for the potential COVID-19 surge.
“
Information about the COVID-19 Staffing Project Toolkit
was shared in one of our All-Care-Settings COVID-19 Calls through Superior Health Quality Alliance,” said Elena Smith, a quality consultant at MPRO and Superior Health Quality Alliance. “While the toolkit was initially created for hospitals, Greg Wnuk, the Procedural Learning and Safety Collaborative’s director of operations, offered to work with nursing homes to adapt the tools so it would fit their needs as well.”
The toolkit includes tools for all phases of COVID-19 preparedness planning. The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge for healthcare systems around the world, and healthcare advocates need tools for projecting frontline staffing needs, redeploying clinical teams, and protecting the health and well-being of providers. Hospitals can use this toolkit to improve their existing response plans, predict utilization of resources at various patient volumes and plan the rollout of new facilities.
The COVID-19 planning modules include:
- Staffing needs calculator
- Response planner
- PPE needs calculator
- Staff skills surveys
- Role allocation tools
The COVID-19 Staffing Project Team is continuing to improve the toolkit. Direct any questions or suggestions to Greg Wnuk, (810) 335-0073,
gwnuk@med.umich.edu
or the COVID Staffing Project Team at
info@covidstaffing.org
.
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MPRO, 22670 Haggerty Road, Suite 100, Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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