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Foundation for Healthcare Quality presents outcomes programs and Bree Collaborative successes
Summary
Representatives from the Foundation for Healthcare Quality briefed the committee on data‑driven clinical registries, the Bree Collaborative process and quality‑improvement projects that reduced complications and costs across Washington hospitals.
Jenny Weir, CEO, and Emily Nudelman, director of implementation and outreach at the Foundation for Healthcare Quality, briefed the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee on Jan. 24 about the foundation’s clinical registries, collaborative guidelines and implementation support.
Weir and Nudelman described the foundation as a neutral nonprofit that hosts the Bree Collaborative and operates data‑driven care outcomes assessment programs (COAPs) for cardiac surgery, obstetrics, spine and general surgery. They said the programs convert clinical data from medical records into benchmarks and feed aggregate results back to participating hospitals under protected legal status to support quality improvements.
The panel offered examples: cardiac surgery efforts reduced variation in blood‑product transfusion and increased early extubation rates; coronary interventions shifted access to radial (wrist) approaches from 57% in 2019 to about 77% in 2023; and a cardiac‑claims partnership with Noridian allowed long‑term comparisons showing lower total costs over seven years for patients treated by hospitals participating in the COAP registry. In obstetrics, a focused site intervention raised timely treatment of severe hypertension in labor from roughly 30% to 80% quarter‑over‑quarter at an underperforming facility.
Nudelman described the Bree Collaborative’s process — appointed, multi‑stakeholder workgroups that develop evidence‑informed guidelines for adoption by purchasers and providers — and gave examples of adoption. She cited a total knee and hip bundle that began with public‑employee contracts, later scaled to a commercial plan, and a dental opioid‑prescribing program that reduced quantities prescribed after Bree guidance was introduced.
The foundation also runs a Health Equity Action Collaborative, technical assistance cohorts, a community birth registry, and the Communication Resolution Program in partnership with the Medical Commission to resolve hospital events locally. Weir and Nudelman said the foundation has a budget request in committee materials to expand technical assistance and outreach.
