Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) – for many facility workers, it’s just another monthly or quarterly meeting. But few realize its potential to transform daily operations. How many QAPI meetings have you sat through that were nothing more than a numbers report-out? How many times have you watched facility leaders try to solve every challenge themselves, wondering if there is a better way?
Recently my colleague Marguerite McLaughlin and I had the opportunity to present at the Maine Healthcare Association Fall Conference. We chose to focus on a challenge every facility faces: hospital readmissions. Through our years of Quality Improvement (QI) work supporting nursing homes across the region, we’ve observed a common pattern: facility leaders often get caught up in the day-to-day “fires” that require immediate attention, leaving little time for strategic quality improvement. This reactive approach frequently results in Administrators or Directors of Nursing Services (DNS) trying to manage QAPI single-handedly, rather than engaging the team in sustainable solutions.
We designed our session with three key goals:
- Demonstrate that QAPI and Quality Improvement (QI) aren’t abstract concepts – They can be simple and straight forward.
- Share successful interventions related to care transitions and re-hospitalizations.
- Emphasize the importance of moving QAPI out of the board room and actively involving front-line workers in the QI process
We kicked off the session with a data-analysis exercise, getting participants to examine what really drives hospital readmissions. Armed with sticky notes and data, participants used our HATCh (Holistic Approach to Transformational Change®) philosophy – developed by Healthcentric Advisors to help personalize care in nursing home settings.
Together we trended sample data and explored possible solutions across workplace, environmental, care, leadership, family/community and government/regulatory components. Ideas and insights soon covered the walls as participants shared their findings. Building on this momentum, we then introduced Healthcentric Advisors’ Root Cause Analysis & Performance Improvement Project Template, a practical tool that guides teams on how to turn collaborative insights into measurable improvements.
The session wrapped up by highlighting several proven interventions and research studies, including published research demonstrating how team-based safety conferences and culture change can significantly reduce the “revolving door” between skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. But beyond the session’s success, we emphasized a fundamental truth: in today’s healthcare landscape, organizations excel when they build a culture of Quality Improvement throughout their entire facility. And that starts with taking QAPI beyond the board room.
Want to learn more about implementing these approaches in your facility? Contact Joshua at [email protected]
