News - Iowa Foundation For Medical Care

February 20, 2008	Oklahoma Health Care Authority Grants Program to IFMC The Oklahoma Health Care Authority recently announced the award of the SoonerCare Health Management Program to the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care.
February 14, 2008	Knapp Properties Leases West Lakes Buildings to Iowa Foundation for Medical Care Knapp Properties, Inc., a real estate management, brokerage and development firm, announced it has leased the anchor buildings in the premier commercial office park in West Des Moines to the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care.
Janurary 28, 2008	Quality Improvements Newsletter This quarterly newsletter highlights IFMC's new contract in Oklahoma, the maternity management program at ENCOMPASS, how Iowa and Illinois QIOs work with hospitals to reduce coding errors, IFMC integral role in CMS Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, and more.
November 30, 2007	Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) Iowa's Final State Impact Report.
October 04, 2007	Quality Improvements Newsletter This quarterly newsletter highlights IFMC's new contract, QIO legislation introduced in Congress, IFQHC's impact on health care in Illinois, news of a wellness component added to ENCOMPASS services, information on how IFMC provides behind-the-scenes information systems support, and more.
September 27, 2007	IFMC Awarded Federal Patient Safety Contract Iowa Foundation for Medical Care has been awarded a $11,422,812, three-year federal contract from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to serve as the Patient Safety Organization (PSO) Privacy Protection Center.
July 07, 2007	Quality Improvements Newsletter Through multiple efforts with health care providers, the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care has impacted quality of care for more than three quarters of a million patients in Iowa. IFMC has substantially improved quality of care in hospitals, physician offices, nursing homes and home health agencies through its Quality Improvement Organization program.
June 26, 2007	Iowa's Quality Improvement Organization Impact Statement The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, the Quality Improvement Organization for Iowa, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is working toward a health care system in which every person receives the right care every time.
June 22, 2007	IFMC Community Initiative Seeks Grant Proposal IFMC Community Initiative, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization established by the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, is seeking grant proposals for programs that focus on – but are not restricted to – the following areas...
May 23, 2007	Nursing Homes Recognized for Leadership in National Campaign The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care today praised 197 Iowa nursing homes for their leadership and commitment to high quality nursing home care. These facilities represent 43 percent of all facilities in the state.
November 20, 2006	Home Health Providers Reducing Hospitalizations Home health care allows patients to receive the care they need surrounded by their loved ones in the comforts of home. For many, this is the ideal environment in which to receive care.
October 30, 2006	Iowa Makes Changes in Nursing Home Care Most of us have become accustomed to nursing home care, where the daily lives of residents are directed by the routines of the nursing home. Residents are told when to get up in the morning, what they will have for breakfast and when they will take their showers.
October 27, 2006	IFMC Community Initiative Awards $116,580 in Grants The IFMC Community Initiative, a 501(c)(3) charitable giving organization, provided $116,580 in grants to non-profit organizations in Iowa and Illinois for innovative health-related projects.
October 25, 2006	Improving Adult Vaccination Rates to Save Lives Pneumococcal disease kills thousands of people in the United States each year, most of them 65 years of age or older. There is a vaccine to protect adults against pneumococcal disease.
October 13, 2006	121 Iowa Physicians Enrolled in Program to Adopt Health IT The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care is working with physician practices as part of a national initiative to accelerate the pace of adoption and optimize the use of electronic health records in the outpatient setting.
August 31, 2006	Survey Indicates that Iowa's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization is Helping Improve Care More than 95 percent of participants in a recent survey of Iowa health care organizations and agencies say that the state's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, helps Iowa health care professionals provide better care.
August 24, 2006	IFMC at Forefront of New Bush Initiative on Health Care Quality and Information President Bush's newly signed measure ordering federal agencies to do more to inform beneficiaries about the cost and quality of their health care services is part of the work the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care is currently engaged in.
August 22, 2006	Iowa Health Care Providers Show Improvement The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care is working with Iowa providers to improve the quality of health care. Iowa nursing homes, home health agencies, hospitals and physician offices have shown improvement in 29 of 34 quality measures over the past three years.
June 26, 2006	IFMC Community Initiative Seeks Grant Proposals IFMC Community Initiative, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization established by the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, is seeking grant proposals for programs that focus on - but are not restricted to...
June 7, 2006	Iowa Promotes Adoption of Health Information Technology Health care and policy leaders are meeting in Washington, D.C., June 5 to 9 for National Health IT Week to promote the adoption of health information technology. The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Iowa, is hard at work accelerating physician adoption of health information technology through the Doctor's Office Quality-Information Technology (DOQ-IT) program, a national initiative that promotes the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems.
June 7, 2006	IFMC Awarded New Privacy and Security Contract The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that 34 states, including Iowa, have signed contracts to work as part of the national Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) to address privacy and security policy questions affecting health information exchange (HIE).
May 1, 2006	Iowa Nursing Homes to Participate in National Time Study Several Iowa nursing homes will be selected to participate in a national study of how nursing homes allocate their staff time and resources. The results of the study may lead to enhancements in the federal payment systems for post-acute services nationwide.
April 7, 2006	IFMC Receives Compassionate Employer Award The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (IFMC) has received the 2006 Compassionate Employer Recognition Award for support provided to employee Joelle Miner, who lost her son to cancer last April.
November 10, 2005	IFMC Celebrates National Home Care Month November is National Home Care Month, and the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (IFMC) applauds home health agencies working in Iowa to improve their clients' quality of life More than two million Medicare beneficiaries receive home health care services.
November 2, 2005	The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care's "Take the Time" Campaign Receives MarCom Creative Award The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care (IFQHC) was recently named a Gold Award winner by the 2005 MarCom Creative Award Committee. The award winning campaign was the mammography component of IFQHC's "Take the Time" initiative, which addresses the importance of not only mammography, but also diabetes testing and annual flu and pneumonia immunizations.
October 10, 2005	Iowa Foundation for Medical Care Sets New Goals to Transform Health Care Services in Iowa Through Partnerships with Providers Today, the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care (IFMC) announced a new, three-year commitment with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that runs Medicare, to improve the quality of health care for every person in Iowa.
September 26, 2005	New Project to Focus on Disparities in Health Care The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care (IFQHC) today announced a new project aimed at improving the quality of medical care given to African-American and Hispanic residents across the state.
September 16, 2005	Sept. 20 is National Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day Closing the Health Gap is a national campaign developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and supported by the Medicare-contracted Quality Improvement Organization for Illinois, The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care (IFQHC).
September 12, 2005	Illinois Hospitals, Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care Partner To Put More Information in Consumers' Hands Beginning September 1, consumers across Illinois were able to see more about how well their local hospitals are performing with new information now available at the Hospital Compare website (also at www.medicare.gov).
August 24, 2005	Iowa Summit on Health Information Technology More than 275 medical professionals will attend the Summit on Health Information Technology Thursday. The Summit is sponsored by the Iowa HIT Initiative to showcase the value of electronic health records in today's health care settings.
August 8, 2005	Quality Forum Set to Help Transform the Illinois Health Care Community The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care will host five sessions of its Quality Forum throughout Illinois to highlight the quality improvement efforts being launched in Medicare’s 8th Scope of Work. The first session of the Quality Forum will take place Aug. 30 in Mount Vernon, Illinois.
August 4, 2005	Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care Helps Illinois Nursing Homes Focus on Residents’ Preferences The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care (IFQHC) recently concluded the person-directed care pilot project designed to help nursing homes improve their quality of care.
July 11, 2005	Immunizations Not Just For the Young Fifty thousand people die each year in the United States by a disease that a vaccine could prevent. Ninety-nine percent of these vaccine preventable deaths occur in the adult population. PPV (pneumonia) shots and annual flu shots could prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths every year.
July 1, 2005	Medicare Web Site Answers Many Questions Medicare benefits are something most of us don’t think about every day. However, sooner or later, we need answers about Medicare, and we need them now! There is an easy-to-use source for the answers to many questions about health care services for seniors. It is the Medicare Web site, www.medicare.gov.
June 15, 2005	Mammography Rates in Iowa Continue to Decline More than 40,000 breast cancer deaths and 269,730 new cases of breast cancer will occur in American women during 2005 according to the American Cancer Society. Sadly each year fewer Medicare eligible women in Iowa are having recommended screening mammograms.