April 2022 | Issue 13
GOOD DAY, PARTNERS IN ADVANCING TRIBAL HEALTH!
Leslie Johnstone, MBA
PATH Task Order Director
I’m Leslie Johnstone, the new Task Order Director for the Partnership to Advance Tribal Health (PATH) project, the successor of Anne Timmins who retired in February.

In this role, I am responsible to ensure overall communication, management and accountability for meeting all outcomes, goals and commitments of the PATH program. I have worked with Comagine Health since 2013, and I have been involved in previous Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital improvement projects in addition to large innovation contracts in the nursing home setting.

In my short time with the PATH project, I have been very impressed with the professionalism of the Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital and area office staff as well as our collaborative relationship with IHS and CMS.
You have my commitment that I will strive to help the PATH project provide meaningful and helpful quality improvement consultation to our IHS hospital partners without adding undo burden. I look forward to working with you all!
It's Patient Experience Week - Join Today's PATH Learning Circle

During Patient Experience Week (April 25-29), all of us at PATH want to say thank you for all you do to promote a caring environment for your patients. We appreciate all your hard work! As you know, it is so important to understand the patient experience. That's why we have pulled together some tips, tools and more in this spotlight on the patient experience. We hope these will be useful for you.

And then be sure to join us for today's PATH Learning Circle. In this interactive session, we will discuss effective discharge planning and timely follow-up and share insight and stories on patient-centered care from community members. More information and how to register for today's event is below under Upcoming Events. If you have not registered yet, be sure to do so right away!
IHS PARTNER SPOTLIGHT:
IHS Hospitals Successfully Achieve PI Attestation
The PATH team worked alongside Area Offices and hospitals to support improved health information exchange and patient data access--and to successfully achieve a quality reporting milestone: Promoting Interoperability (PI) attestation.

What were some of the key steps, especially for two hospitals that had never attested to PI before?

UPCOMING EVENTS
April PATH Learning Circle | Today! April 28
3-4 p.m. EDT | 2-3 p.m. CDT | 1-2 p.m. MDT | 12-1 p.m. PDT

May PATH Learning Circle | Thursday, May 12
3-4 p.m. EDT | 2-3 p.m. CDT | 1-2 p.m. MDT | 12-1 p.m. PDT
Nine in every 10 emergency departments (EDs) report they frequently operate at or over capacity, leading to significant increases in wait times, medical errors, morbidity, staff burnout and excessive hospital costs. Join us for the May PATH Learning Circle to learn about a robust patient education plan that will benefit IHS communities and facilities.
This material was prepared by Comagine Health for the American Indian Alaska Native Healthcare Quality Initiative under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of CMS or HHS, and any reference to a specific product or entity herein does not constitute endorsement of that product or entity by CMS or HHS. NQIIC-AIHQI-192-04/21/2022