Quality Partners of Rhode Island has changed its name to Healthcentric Advisors, in order to position itself as a player in the national market for contracts to improve the quality of health care. In 2009, the organization generated $5.4 million in revenue, with some 40 employees. In 2010, revenue increased to nearly $6 million, and the number of employees grew to 50.
Much of the work emphasizes improvement in the delivery of health services: reducing costly hospital readmission of Medicare patients by coaching patients; reducing infections in the Intensive Care Units in Rhode Island hospitals by improving adherence to protocols; or helping the state in its tobacco cessation efforts. The organization is working under contract with the Rhode Island Quality Institute to bring the “currentcare” system of secure health information exchange electronic records to all of Rhode Island’s nursing homes.
Providence Business News asked Healthcentric Advisors CEO John Keimig to talk about the future plans for his organization nationally – and in Rhode Island.
PBN: In changing the name of Quality Partners of Rhode Island to Healthcentric Advisors, you said that the rebranding was necessary to position your organization in terms of the national market opportunity. What is that national market opportunity? Can you quantify that in terms of potential revenue?
KEIMIG: Over the past 15 years our organization has greatly evolved in terms of experience, staff expertise, resources, and services provided. Much of this evolution has included performing work that goes beyond the borders of Rhode Island to more of a national scope.
Over the course of the past few years we have served as the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization Support Center for nursing home quality improvement and a national pilot site for care transitions interventions to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions.
While Rhode Island is our home, we are engaged on a national level, which made the Quality Partners of Rhode Island name limiting. Regardless of the fiscal debate in Washington, reforming and improving the healthcare delivery system will continue and we believe Healthcentric Advisors will continue to have an important role in that evolution.
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PBN: With the change in name and the positioning for market opportunities outside of Rhode Island, how will that affect your ongoing work here in the state?
KEIMIG: The name change will have no effect on our current or future work within Rhode Island. As we have since 1995, we will continue to serve as the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Rhode Island. In addition, we look forward to continuing our broad spectrum of work for state agencies such as the R.I. Department of Health, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, and the R.I. Division of Elderly Affairs, as well as providing technical assistance to other entities such as the Rhode Island Quality Institute and many of the state’s health care providers.
PBN: Some of the recent focus of your work has been on the best way to reduce hospital readmissions of Medicare patients, where roughly one in five are readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Do you believe that electronic health records and currentcare will change some of the mechanics of the current system?
KEIMIG: The continued adoption of electronic health records by health care providers and development of our state’s health information exchange, currentcare, will undoubtedly change the landscape of our health care delivery system in terms of care processes, finance and reimbursement, and quality outcomes. There are many complexities to the issue of avoidable readmissions of patients, the most correctable of which is miscommunication or lack of communication. Increased use of health information technology will clearly address this factor.
PBN: As hospitals in Rhode Island move away from inpatient care to outpatient care, how will that change affect quality improvement measures?
KEIMIG: Improving the quality and safety of health care will always be a central focus of hospital executives, governing boards, and frontline staff wherever care is provided. As we witnessed here in Rhode Island, many reimbursement contracts now include quality- and patient safety-based performance incentives. As outpatient care has increased, so have these quality incentives that are focused on improving outpatient care. These include adherence to knowledge-based medicine and implementing proven processes to reduce readmissions.
PBN: How do you see Healthcentric Advisors’ relationship with the Rhode Island Quality Institute evolving, as health care reform moves forward and your organization moves more to a national focus to attract customers?
KEIMIG: Healthcentric Advisors greatly values its relationship with the Rhode Island Quality Institute. It has been a privilege to provide technical assistance to the Institute such as managing the nationally acclaimed Rhode Island ICU Collaborative and implementing the care transitions portion of the Institute’s Beacon Communities grant. We believe our corporate experience – which we have gained from both local and national engagements – can only enhance our future relationship with the Institute, which is ultimately a win for health care in Rhode Island.
