A few important/timely updates about PRIME:
Good news – all PRIME applications with the exception of one (which remains a work-in-progress and is from a district hospital coincidentally) are approved! Congratulations to all who worked so diligently to submit thoughtful applications.
A draft reporting guide which will be used for the first year end report due Sept. 30, 2016 was distributed to district/municipal public hospitals (DMPHs) on June 10. The reporting guide does not include any information on infrastructure measures, which DHCS has requested DHLF take the first stab at drafting. If you all have any suggestions/comments/questions, please contact Sherreta Lane at slane@scainc.net. The one bit of advice from DHCS on reporting relative to infrastructure measures is to make it as quantitative as possible. For example if training staff for a patient-centered medical home is a process measure, the report should include the number of providers trained (and which types of providers and what the denominator of potential providers is). Also the outcomes or expected outcomes should be included. For example, training 80 percent of your primary care providers is expected to demonstrate what specific outcomes.
DHCS is working on a template for reporting and we should see a rough draft within two to three weeks. Similarly, if you have suggestions for inclusion in the reporting draft, let me know.
The next version (2.2) of the PRIME specification manual is available and DHLF staff is working with CAPH to have this added to the drop box.
One of the PRIME requirements is that DHCS convene at least one annual learning collaborative. In order to make these collaboratives as meaningful as possible, DHCS will work with Harbage Consulting to survey PRIME entities as to what works best. So keep an eye out for that survey and please take a moment to complete it. In the meantime, if you participate in a successful collaborative, please drop me a note or give me a call so those suggestions can be incorporated in the PRIME collaborative. All entities want to put together something this is beneficial rather than just checking the “completed” box. Also, PRIME entities are required to fund the learning collaborative(s) so keeping the costs manageable is also a goal.
