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At the start of the new year in 2023 Genesis Family Health looked at the issues facing their community and wanted to find ways to use community outreach to engage their expectant mothers in health education.  Their Care Team came up with the idea to gather maternity patients together to create baby gifts or to make items needed for their new babies and wanted to use those gatherings to share health education with expectant mothers.

Both KFMC and KHC currently provide services to Kansas providers under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) Program and the Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) Program.  Both KHC and KFMC have worked within these programs independently, but collaboratively. Our organizations have a long history of successfully supporting Kansas providers and our staff live and work in the communities we serve.

Currently, CMS is planning to release the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the CMS QIN-QIO 13^th Statement of work (SOW, or 13^th iteration of the QIO work). As such, CMS is making significant changes to the program, that you may or may not be aware of.

Kansa Healthcare Collaborative (KHC) and KFMC Health Improvement Partners are excited to announce a new quality improvement collaboration in Kansas. KHC and KFMC are working together with other health care partners in the region to bid on the CMS QIN-QIO 13^th Scope of Work (SOW) in Kansas.

What is a QIN-QIO?

Required by statute, the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) Program is one of the largest federal programs dedicated to improving the effectiveness and quality of health care services delivered to people with Medicare.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with organizations like KHC and KFMC to carry out the program mission.

KHC is currently seeking clinicians and hospitals who are interested in participating in quality improvement initiatives to improve patient outcomes and prevent disease and disease progression.  KHC provides no-cost technical assistance to clinicians and hospitals participating in these initiatives.  Contact Mandy Johnson This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

In April 2017, church elders from the nearby Amish community met with two physicians and a social worker from Nemaha Valley Community Hospital (NVCH) to discuss concerns about recent poor birth outcomes in both mothers and babies in the local Amish community.  A meeting between physicians and church elders to solve health care issues is not the norm in healthcare, but in this case, was the most logical and culturally appropriate means to address an issue, which was vital to both the Amish community and the hospital.

In March 2022, the American Hospital Association urged Congress to address workforce issues affecting health care facilities¹. AHA called those workforce issues “a national emergency that demands immediate attention from all levels of government and workable solutions." According to the Kansas Hospital Association’s 2022 Workforce Report²vacancy and turnover rates in 2021 for licensed practical nurses and staff nurses were higher than in all previous years dating back to 2013. Statewide, overall employee turnover rate for surveyed health care positions averaged 19%, with the highest turnover rates for housekeepers (33%), food service workers/dietary aids (31%) and Certified Nursing Assistants (29%).

In March 2022, the American Hospital Association urged Congress to address workforce issues affecting health care facilities¹. AHA called those workforce issues “a national emergency that demands immediate attention from all levels of government and workable solutions." According to the Kansas Hospital Association’s 2022 Workforce Report²vacancy and turnover rates in 2021 for licensed practical nurses and staff nurses were higher than in all previous years dating back to 2013. Statewide, overall employee turnover rate for surveyed health care positions averaged 19%, with the highest turnover rates for housekeepers (33%), food service workers/dietary aids (31%) and Certified Nursing Assistants (29%).