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Learn what AHRQ and CMS do and how they can help!

TeamSTEPPS® stands for Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety.

TeamSTEPPS® is:

• an evidence-based framework aimed at optimizing patient and/​or resident care by improving communication and teamwork skills in healthcare settings;
• another component to help support and enhance person-centered care by promoting the delivery of quality and safe care;
• part of the ongoing patient safety movement which includes those receiving care across healthcare settings, including those living in nursing homes; and
• focused on specific skills supporting team performance principles and concepts, and provides specific tools and strategies for improving communication and teamwork, reducing chance of error, and providing safer care.

Training Focused on Patient and Family Centered Care:

Improving the quality, safety, and value of the care you receive through the Medicare program is what the QIO Program is all about. QIOs provide resources to help you become more confident in making health care decisions and actively managing your health. Beneficiary and Family Centered Care-QIOs (BFCC-QIOs) are here to help when you have a complaint about the quality of care you have received, and when you need to appeal a health care provider’s decision to discontinue services or appeal your discharge from the hospital.

As a patient, you play an important role in improving health care for yourself and others. When you share your concerns with your QIO, you help us identify how the health care system can better meet the needs of other patients. Your experiences, both good and bad, give us the perspective to:

• Identify opportunities for improvement
• Develop solutions that address the real needs of patients
• Inspire action by health professionals

It’s important to know how QIOs work with you, your family, and your health care team. Medicare has strict policies about our processes, designed to protect your privacy and give you objective information about the care you received. This website contains information and resources to empower you in your health care quality improvement decisions.

• Appeals, Complaints & Case Review
  • Appoint a Representative
  • Check Your Case Status
  • File a Complaint
  • Immediate Advocacy
  • Make an Appeal
• Get Involved in Your Care
  • Why Quality Matters
  • Take Control of Your Care
  • Ask Your Doctor Questions
  • Join a Local Learning & Action Network
• Resources

Topics:

CMS: Quality Improveent Organizations - Sharing Knowledge - Improving Health Care.

Click on any of the titles below to jump directly to the self-paced learning module. Each module must be completed in a single session to receive a certificate. Look at the suggested time needed to complete the session.

To get started, check out the learning guides in bold at the bottom.  The first one is designed for leaders to understand how to register along with an explanation of the self-paced learning modules (which take at least 20 minutes to complete to recieve a certificate) and are intended for anyone with responsibility for hospital imfection prevention as well as infection control programs.

• Behavior, Behavior Change and Hand Hygiene
• Universal PPE Best Practices & Role of a Trained Observer
• Infection Prevention and Control Risk Assessments for COVID-19
• StAT Learning Series for Hospital and Clinical Staff and Leaders User Guide
• StAT Learning Series for Hospital Clinical Staff and Leaders

Behavior, Behavior Change and Hand Hygiene session:

Audience: Facility staff and hospital leadership responsible for infection prevention and control, quality improvement and compliance programs

Description: Everyone in health care knows how to wash their hands. So why is it so hard to practice thoroughly and consistently? In this webinar hosted by Jane Brock, MD, MSPH, you’ll learn:

• The myriad barriers to hand hygiene your teams encounter in their work
• Ways to facilitate full compliance with hand hygiene protocols through physical and process design changes
• How to tap into the key principals of behavior change to empower, encourage and motivate your staff to make hand hygiene second nature

Universal PPE Best Practices & Role of a Trained Observer

Audience: Frontline staff and hospital leadership responsible for observing and ensuring protocol adherence of infection prevention and control, quality improvement and compliance programs

Description: The theory behind personal protective equipment (PPE) is simple, but working in a fast-paced, overburdened environment can cause lapses in protocol and best practices. Proper wear/​disposal and a reliable observer or buddy can minimize the chance of infection and possible outbreaks. In this webinar hosted by Brian Gardiner, BA, BSN, RN, you’ll learn:

• Key points to remember in donning and doffing PPE
• Ways to be a good PPE buddy
• How to identify hazardous conditions, safety demands and stressors
• Potential challenges with a buddy system and possible solutions

Using the Comprehensive Hospital Pandemic Preparedness Checklist for COVID-19 to identify gaps in compliance 

Audience: Facility staff and hospital leadership responsible for infection prevention and control programs, quality improvement and compliance

Description: It is not a matter of if, but when. Use of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC’s) pandemic preparedness checklist can help position your facility to be prepared to identify and treat cases of COVID-19, including a potential surge in cases, and how to prevent the spread of disease in your facility. In this webinar hosted by Brianna Gass, you’ll learn:

• To apply the checklist to identify gaps in your facility processes
• To identify training needs for facility staff by using the checklist
• To adapt the checklist to best meet your facility’s specific needs

Infection Prevention and Control Risk Assessments for COVID-19

Audience: Facility staff and hospital leadership responsible for infection prevention and control, quality improvement and compliance programs

Description: As hospitals prepare for more COVID-19 surges, it is important to have infection control practices in place that align with CMS goals for COVID-19 prevention and control. In this webinar hosted by Meg Nugent, Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) program manager at Telligen, you’ll learn how your care team can lock in infection control processes that ensure safe, quality care that meets regulatory compliance expectations during COVID-19 surges by:

• Understanding CMS’s infection control conditions of participation
• Using the CMS hospital infection control worksheet as a self-assessment tool