Improving Diabetic Care Performance
July 21st, 2020 | Clinical ConnectionsDriven both by the growth of our attributed population and the ever higher HEDIS thresholds for the 90th percentile, the network is experiencing a decline in our Diabetes Care measure performance. While this is concerning from a contract performance standpoint, it also points out that we have opportunity for improvement in health care delivery to our diabetic patients. In the face of the COVID pandemic, it is even more important to gain control of our patients’ diabetes as we know diabetics are at higher risk for poor COVID outcomes if infected.
The Optimization Team is deploying a number of tactics to encourage improvement in our diabetes care measures including the IRIS initiative which places point-of-care retinal cameras in practices with gaps in the Diabetic Eye Exam metric. Patients are able to obtain a retinal eye exam for which they may not otherwise have had access while practices earn credit for closing the gap and reimbursement for the eye exam itself. This initiative was paused during the pandemic but has been reignited with the official launch of provider training to take place by the end of summer. Chase lists of patients with evidence of poorly controlled A1cs were also sent to practices in order to encourage re-engagement of patients and scheduling of office visits before a potential second wave of COVID infection.
Interested in improving your practice’s performance for diabetes care measures? Contact Director of Performance Optimization Elizabeth Sharp.
