Wheeler’s Quality Improvement Teams Transform Patient Health and Care
From “Poopons” that incentivize patients to do colorectal screenings, to deep dives into the patient check-in process, Wheeler staff routinely work across disciplines in continuous quality improvement (CQI) teams to improve health outcomes in our patients.
In 2024, three focused CQI teams worked to help patients meet specific health care targets in diabetes, colorectal cancer, and depression. Teams included staff from psychiatry, primary care, health center operations, information technology, nursing, quality operations, and more, in intensive group exercises over the course of the year.
The result? A more systemic approach to care at every Wheeler Family Health & Wellness Center, and better health outcomes for patients compared to 2023.
“Quality in health care does not improve by happenstance,” says Linda Russo, LMFT, CPHQ, LBBH, vice president of quality operations & compliance officer. “Our teams spent a year looking into every detail in all three health conditions, everything from how patients check in to how our staff works together, to find where we can make small changes that may return big outcomes…and healthier patients.”
The teams presented their findings to Wheeler executive and senior leadership in March. In every focused area, Wheeler saw improvement in health outcomes, in some cases significant movements in measurements.
Diabetes
- Four of the five Wheeler centers improved diabetes numbers over 2023.
- Four of the five centers exceeded their 2024 goals.
- Wheeler’s health centers overall saw an 8% improvement over 2023.
- Show rate for nursing visits peaked.
Depression
- Scores largely remained consistent from 2023.
- Two of Wheeler’s larger centers (Hartford and Waterbury) saw improvements of up to 11% over 2023.
Colorectal Cancer
- Scores improved by six percent in Black patients over 2023.
- Across all Wheeler centers, screenings remained constant over 2023.
- Three of the five sites improved their screenings.
Russo says the work done by the teams will continue and organically evolve, which will likely lead to even more positive outcomes in the future.
“We’ve adapted and learned from every step along the way,” she says. “Our next objective will be to take the data we’ve collected, celebrate the wins, and carry the improvement forward. We have to continually look at our outcomes and be responsive to where we find need for improvements.”
Wheeler will launch three entirely new CQI teams for 2025, on childhood immunization, cervical cancer screening, and initiation and engagement of substance use disorder treatment.
The full FY24 CQI presentation storyboards can be found here:
