Projects/Initiatives

Best Practice Playbook For Surviving COVID-19

Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Omnes IPA partners rapidly transformed their service delivery models while still ensuring community members could access services. Partners will likely continue virtual service delivery into the future while also providing in-person services with appropriate physical distancing. Omnes IPA convened its partners to develop a “best practice playbook” for operating under this new normal. The best practice playbook will focus on:

  1. Welcoming and engaging clients
  2. Reimagining physical environments for distancing
  3. Telehealth sustainability
  4. Recruitment and retention of staff
  5. Financial wellness

For one organization to undertake the development of the many protocols and best practices related to the new operating environment is an enormous burden. By creating this best practice playbook, we are able to share ideas, ease individual burden, and ensure our clients receive quality care.

Omnes IPA Launches Quality Improvement Projects

SUD cohort participants meeting

SUD Cohort providers kick-off their learning collaborative.

In the first quarter of 2020, Omnes IPA launched two quality improvement projects for cohorts of mental health and substance use disorder provider organizations. Each cohort has chosen a specific measure to try to significantly impact. The cohorts will then define the measure, determine how to measure in real-time or near real-time, and find the root causes that impact the measure. Each organization will try to impact the measure using plan-do-act-study (PDSA) cycles. Results of the PDSA cycles will be shared across organizations and successful projects will be evaluated for scaling across the network.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Omnes IPA is slightly tweaking the projects. The focus will be on data collection and measuring changes due to the rapid implementation of telehealth and virtual services. The cohorts will focus on improving the quality of these services in the spirit of the original project.

Omnes IPA Determines Initial Performance Measures

The CNY BHCC’s (now Omnes IPA) Data and Quality Sub-committees have been working to identify an initial measure set in an effort to create a unified process for data collection and quality across the region. The committees looked at various data sets that are already being tracked by several partners and determined an initial set of measures.  The following measures were selected:

  1. Adherence to Antipsychotic Medications for People with Schizophrenia
  2. Diabetes Screening for People with Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder who are using antipsychotic medication
  3. Engagement of alcohol and other drug dependence treatment (initiation and 2 visits within 44 days)
  4. Follow up after hospitalization for mental illness within 7 days
  5. Follow up after hospitalization for mental illness within 30 days
  6. Adherence to mood stabilizers for individuals with Bipolar 1 disorder
  7. Diabetes Monitoring- No HbA1c>1 year

These initial measures are based on claims data. The CNY BHCC/Omnes IPA purchased a PSYCKES view tailored for networks across New York State.  This system will allow us to aggregate our data as well as identify specific high needs individuals that may require further assistance in meeting their healthcare goals. This information will assist us in creating a baseline and forming our quality improvement efforts as a region.