In 2012, the Indiana Department of Health launched the Indiana Primary Care Learning Collaborative (INPCLC) based on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Breakthrough Series model. This was a 12-month project to Community Health Centers with training on Electronic Health Records and quality improvement methods to improve care for patients with chronic disease. Throughout the year the health system clinical teams came to Indianapolis for three learning sessions, participated in monthly technical assistance conference calls, and attended a final Outcomes Congress event to report on their experiences and successes. In between the scheduled events, practice coaches from IDOH were available to support the teams by email, phone, and on-site visits. In addition, each team submitted monthly data on their selected topic areas to track their changes over time. The data for all teams was totaled and shared among participating teams to encourage discussion.
Practice coaches and a consultant, Mike Hindmarsh, led the teams through the learning collaborative. The practice coaches and consultant helped the teams use evidence-based guidelines for each chosen topic area to make sure they were giving their patients the best care possible. They taught the teams how to use the Model for Improvement, a tool for guiding quality improvement work, and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to test those changes in their actual work setting. They also connected the teams with resources from other IDOH divisions. The first four cohorts improved in 28 of the 30 measures tracked.
PURPOSE: A Breakthrough Series Collaborative is a short-term (6- to 15-month) learning system that brings together a large number of teams from hospitals or clinics to seek improvement in a focused topic area. Teams learn from each other and the content experts how to improve in specific areas.
Now, after 5 previous cohorts of the INPCLC, the focus is Trauma Informed Care as the foundation of how we improve Primary Care and our health system outcomes across Indiana. Dr. Bruce Perry is our lead content expert for this round. To learn more about the INPCLC initiative, access resources, and to view recordings of Dr. Perry and other content experts click on the resources, below.