Connecticut Community Care, Inc. Completes Qualidigm Care Transitions Leadership Academy

Online, April 12, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Qualidigm, the consulting and research company in Rocky Hill whose mission is advancing improvement in the quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of health care, held its first "Care Transitions Leadership Academy." Connecticut Community Care, Inc. (CCCI), headquartered in Bristol, Conn., participated in the free, two-day leadership forum along with 350 other statewide health care providers at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville, March 22 and 29.

Qualidigm's Care Transitions Leadership Academy offers leadership education and relationship-building opportunities toward the goal of reducing preventable hospital readmissions for all causes or disease states. The Academy's leadership curriculum includes national perspectives on care transitions, care transition safety, best practices, essential skills for community leaders, action planning, case studies, palliative care, data sources, analysis and interpretation, and intervention planning.

Participating health care providers came from Connecticut hospitals, home health care agencies, nursing homes, Hospice agencies, the physician community, community-based organizations and state agencies.

As Connecticut's Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) responsible for protecting the rights of all Medicare beneficiaries in the state, Qualidigm launched Communities of Care two years ago to help reduce hospital readmissions for patients with heart failure. The preventive initiative has grown more than three-fold in the number of communities participating and their focus was recently expanded to "all cause" readmissions. The Academy curriculum supports the Communities of Care initiative, recognizing that collaboration and community team building can be effectively applied to achieve the goal of reducing preventable hospital readmissions.

"There is already consensus among its participants from Connecticut's health care continuum that the relationships, new processes and best practices that Qualidigm has helped us forge have been invaluable to the goal of reducing preventable hospital readmissions," said Daniel S. Flynn, regional supervisor of CCCI, North Central Regional Office.

"The processes and best practices developed through Communities of Care collaboration and community-building can be effectively applied to prevent unnecessary visits to the hospital for patients with other diseases - or 'all-cause' - readmissions as well," said Qualidigm CEO Marcia K. Petrillo, a recognized visionary in the design and implementation of quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, who provided opening remarks.

As a by-product of the Communities of Care initiative, a series of three videos, "Heart Talk: Living with Heart Failure," have been developed to guide providers, patients and their families in managing heart failure. This free educational series is being used in Connecticut and throughout the country (www.hearttalk.org).

Communities of Care participants collaborate and communicate closely with each other on a voluntary basis to ensure that patients being discharged from their respective community's hospital are not readmitted due to failures in communication or coordination of care gaps between varying health care settings. They also work toward standardizing systems that include the critical information which should accompany every patient as they move from one health care setting to another or return home.

Qualidigm's next Care Transition Leadership Academy sessions will be held on May 17 and June 28, 2012.

About Connecticut Community Care, Inc. (CCCI):

CCCI identifies choices and provides services to help people of all ages, abilities and incomes to live at home. The non-profit care management organization is an access agency to the CT Home Care Programs (CHCP) and to Money Follows the Person (MFP) in 124 towns in the North Central, Northwest and Eastern CT. It also runs a private division, Care Management Associates, which serves others statewide who do not qualify for the CHCP or MFP. CCCI serves more than 13,000 individuals and their families each year through regional offices located in Wethersfield, Watertown and Franklin. The Corporate Office is located in Bristol. Toll-free: 866-845-2224 Website:www.ctcommunitycare.org.

About Qualidigm:

In December 2011, the Hartford Business Journal honored Qualidigm's Communities of Care with its Health Care Heroes Award for Advancement in Healthcare Prevention. Last February, WTNH News 8 Health Care Reporter Jocelyn Maminta interviewed a cross-section of Communities of Care representatives. Those interviews launched the local ABC-affiliate's Doctors' Days programming, which aired on WCTX/MyTV9 and subsequently was featured on Connecticut Styles.

"Communities of Care brilliantly and compassionately seeks to improve medical and communications processes that can only lead to better health care outcomes," said Maminta.

With funding made possible from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Qualidigm produced and distributed a series of free, evidence-based instructional videos that are being used nationwide by hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, specialty care practices, physicians, Hospice representatives, care-givers, families and others. The videos, "Heart Talk: Living with Heart Failure," represent a growing acceptance of standardization in medical care and are a part of a larger momentum to make sure that patient care is carefully coordinated across health settings.

The first video is geared toward licensed professionals, while the second is for nursing assistants. The third video is customized for patients, families and care-givers. Collectively, these videos focus on the key recommendations that, if followed, can help patients with heart failure live a healthier life without unnecessary hospitalizations. The videos are in English, Polish and Spanish and are available at www.Qualidigm.org. Qualidigm Consultant Dr. Jason W. Ryan, a cardiologist at the University of Connecticut's John Dempsey Hospital and co-director of the UConn Heart Failure Center, assisted with content development and narrates "Heart Talk."

Editor's Note: To access presentations delivered at Qualidigm's Care Transitions Leadership Academy, go to www.Qualidigm.org.