South Carolina was one of 10 grantees selected to participate in this federal quality demonstration grant. The grant is aimed at establishing and improving the quality of children’s healthcare through measures of quality, promotion of health information technology, and evaluation of provider-based models. The South Carolina grant has four key goals:
Quality: demonstrate that newly developed quality indicators can be successfully utilized in pediatric practices;
Technology: share key clinical data through a statewide electronic quality improvement network;
Innovation: develop a physician-led, peer-to-peer quality improvement network; and
Pediatrics: expand the use of pediatric medical homes to address mental health challenges of children in the state
The CHIPRA QI project represents a unique opportunity for South Carolina pediatricians to help develop quality improvement tools that will lead to better health outcomes for current and future generations of patients. The grant also provides generous incentives to participating practices. These include:
$18,000 annual stipends for each of the four years practices participate;
Support to achieve at least a level 2 NCQA certification for a patient centered medical home;
Credit for Part IV of maintenance of certification credit, with no tuition charges;
Assistance and resources to meet the mental health needs of their patients; and
Free consultation and assistance to ensure existing health information systems (EMRs) are linked into the state quality improvement network.
Other Outcomes:
Academic Pediatrics (May 2015)study sample includes 33,895 publicly insured children attributed to 32 practices
no statistically significant association between medical homeness and receipt of well-child visit
no statistically significant association between nonurgent, preventable, or avoidable ED visits and medical homeness
