As the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for North and South Carolina, CCME is funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to assist primary care and cardiology practices in a three-year effort to decrease cardiovascular risk factors among Medicare patients. This bistate effort is part of the national Million Hearts™ campaign to help prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.

The Four Cardiac Population Health Measures:

 
“You Can’t Improve What You Don’t Measure”

Participating practices submit monthly measures of the ABCS of cardiovascular health:

A – Percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with ischemic vascular disease (IVD) with documented use of aspirin or other antithrombotic (e.g., Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) #204; National Quality Forum (NQF) #0068 or #0067)

B – Percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with ischemic vascular disease (IVD) who had most recent blood pressure in control (less than 140/90 mmHg) (e.g., PQRS #201; NQF #0073, #0018, or #0013)

C – Percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with ischemic vascular disease (IVD) who received at least one lipid profile within 12 months and whose most recent LDL-C level was in control (less than 100 mg/dL) (e.g., PQRS #241; NQF #0075)

S  – Percentage of patients aged 18 years and older who were screened for tobacco use one or more times within 24 months AND who received cessation counseling intervention if identified as a tobacco user (e.g., PQRS #226; NQF #0028)

Within the framework of a Learning and Action Network (LAN), CCME:

• Assists practices with data analysis and benchmarking
• Provides quality improvement interventions to increase measure rates
• Facilitates PQRS participation
• Supports the use of EHRs for care coordination, monitoring, patient engagement, spread of best practices, and identification of disparities in care
• Helps align quality improvement efforts with PQRS reporting, meaningful use, and Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) certification
• Provides quarterly webinars and an annual in-person meeting approved for CME credit

Optional Performance Improvement Continuing Medical Education (PI-CME)

As an accredited CME provider, CCME can offer educational programming and ongoing performance measurement to assist interested physicians in an additional performance improvement CME project to earn up to 20 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. This optional program is offered at no cost to physicians already participating in our cardiac population health program.

“The Power of Collaboration”
CCME recognizes the transformative power of collaboration. We are actively engaged in aligning our efforts with other like-minded organizations. We are currently partnering with:

Interested Providers

If you are interested in participating in the Cardiac Population Health Program, please contact: