Leadership Lesson – October 2024: Celebrating Resilience: Achievements of the 12th Statement of Work Amid Unprecedented Challenges in Health Care
Leadership Lesson
Words of advice from leaders on the front lines.
This month’s leadership lesson is from JoVonn Givens, MPH, Task Order Director for Alliant Health Solutions.
As the 12th Statement of Work comes to a close next month, I would like to thank each of you for your hard work and perseverance during these times. When we started this work across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee in November 2019, we could not predict the challenges we would face. I remember sitting in one of the plenary sessions during the CMS Quality Conference in February 2020, and the Department of Health and Human Services shared that they were monitoring the SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19, virus. I called my parents to tell them to get a 90-day supply of their prescription medications “just in case.” I remember making an online order for a grocery pick-up after I returned to Atlanta “just in case.” Just a week or so later, we were told to stay home to try to prevent the spread of the virus.
Here we are in 2024, and we all have at least one story of how COVID-19 impacted our lives. The resilience of health care across the Southeast region and the nation has been the bright side to all of this. Communities of providers and community-based organizations partnered together to first pool resources for personal protective equipment and, later, discuss and implement interventions to improve care coordination and chronic disease management, decrease opioid misuse, and ensure preparedness for emergencies and the “just in case” times. Because of your hard work, here are some of the accomplishments achieved during the 12th Statement of Work across the region:
- Opioid adverse drug events (ADEs), including deaths, for high-risk nursing home residents were decreased from 19.18 per 100,000 Medicare Fee For Service nursing home resident days in September 2020 to 14.86 per 100,000 Medicare Fee For Service nursing home resident days in November 2023.
- Adequately controlled blood pressure increased from 69.10% in September 2020 to 74.97% in December 2023 among Medicare Fee For Service beneficiaries.
There are many more successes to share, which can be found in the Alliant Health Solutions QIN-QIO Impact Summary. Give yourselves a pat on the back or a round of applause for your hard work.
It has been my pleasure to meet some of you in person, receive an email from you, and hear about all the excellent work you have been doing. As the 12th Statement of Work comes to an end, we can still provide you with technical assistance. Please email me at jovonn.givens@allianthealth.org, and I will put you in touch with the right person. Let’s not forget everything we’ve learned over the past five years and use that as a foundation for the future.
Thank you for helping to make health care better.