February 2007
Welcome to the MaineHealth Learning Community
MaineHealth and the Maine PHO recently launched the MaineHealth Learning Community (MHLC) as a way to provide assistance to Primary Care Practices (PCPs) to improve care across chronic conditions. The MaineHealth Learning Community offers a menu of options to busy healthcare providers seeking to improve care and outcomes.
The goal of the MHLC is to offer practices the resources necessary to expand upon and strengthen existing clinical improvement efforts within their practice. Available resources include
CME's available! There is no charge for participation.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at mhlc@mmc.org or visit us online.
1) Access to chronic illness tools, information, and resources, and links to community resources
We have the tools you need to help you succeed! As a member of the MHLC, you have access to educational and improvement resources such as patient and provider tools, and e-learning modules available through MaineHealth and national advocacy organizations (e.g. American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association). The Learning Community will also offer practices access to coordinated information about available community resources, such as Living Well classes, MaineHealth Learning Resource Center classes, diabetes self-management trainings, support groups, and other community-based resources. Watch for our regular notices and reminders in this newsletter.
To view patient and provider materials, please visit the MaineHealth website and click on "For Healthcare Professionals".
Examples include:
—MaineHealth Self-Management Plan—
—TARGET Diabetes–Information for Patients and Families—
—AH! Asthma Health—Information for Children and Families—
—Caring for ME (Depression Program)—Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)—
2) Practice Improvement Series Meetings (PRISMs)
If your practice is looking for opportunities to learn about quality improvement but you don't want to commit to a year-long chronic disease collaborative, the PRISM could be for you! These are day-long educational sessions with content for the entire practice team (e.g. physicians, clinical and practice support staff). They include information on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, asthma/obstructive lung disease, as well as cross-cutting topics such as building effective teams, health literacy, and self-management. Local, regional, and national experts will be brought in for these meetings, which will be offered 3 times during 2007.
Over 150 people attended our first PRISM on January 18th. Here's what attendees had to say:
"The interactive portions were very stimulating. It really got our team 'in motion'. It is always so invigorating to attend these programs. It definitely gets all parties involved moving, thinking, and brainstorming!!! What a great motivator! Thank you!!"
"Everything was great—just keep doing it!"
"The sessions were terrific and inspiring!"
"Great resources and chances to network."
Whether you attended the first PRISM or not, you are invited to our next one, which will be held on May 3rd at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport. This is not a repeat of the first! Please join us for new information and inspiration to help you achieve your improvement goals! Click here to download the "Save the Date" and register.
3) Regional Improvement Meetings
If you can't make it to a day-long Practice Improvement Series Meeting (PRISM), then a Regional Improvement Meeting might be the thing for you!
Regional Improvement Meetings are educational sessions that we will help to arrange in your local area. You request the topic and we will arrange the speakers, including specialist physicians and/or educators. These sessions are tailored to your own improvement interests and needs.
Interested local communities will be asked to convene a minimum of 6-10 PCP's and/or practice staff to attend the session and to reserve a minimum amount of dedicated time (e.g. 1 hour) for the meeting. For more information on Regional improvement meetings, click here or
click here to download a request form.
4) Practice based Coaching
Are you struggling to understand your data?
Do you need help sifting through pay-for-performance initiatives?
Is the spirit of teamwork missing in your practice?
Would you like to increase the number of patients in your practice that have completed condition appropriate screening or testing e.g. PHQ-9, LDL, HbA1c, Microalbuminuria?
If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, a MaineHealth Learning Community (MHLC) Coach can help!!
If your practice is ready to take on quality improvement work but don't know where or how to begin, coaching may be for you. The purpose of coaching is to support a primary care practice that is working on one or more improvement/redesign efforts. While coaching requires a commitment of time and energy on the part of the practice, it is a highly effective means for making and sustaining improvements.
Practices that plan to request coaching will be asked to identify a lead team consisting of a clinician, clinical support leader and administrative leader; additional members may be added at the discretion of the practice. The lead team will actively participate in coaching activities.
PHO and MaineHealth staff trained in practice improvement will provide coaching services to help practices meet their improvement goals. Activities will be tailored to the needs of the practice. Coaches will help practice teams learn about effective team work and improving workflow in the practice for better chronic illness/planned care through improvement skills, such as:
Improving meeting skills
Brainstorming methods
Flowcharting/process mapping
Using data for improvement
Spreading and standardizing improvements
For more information about coaching, please click here.
Upcoming Events
Save the date for our Practice Improvement Series Meetings (PRISM):
May 3, 2007
September 20, 2007
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