Project Updates

In addition to SCW’s quality initiatives, we also have several pilot projects that are generating best practices for dissemination to the broader SCW membership. For more information on any of these projects, please contact us at info@scwisconsin.org.

• “Partnering with rural providers to develop a sustainable infrastructure to measure and improve colonoscopy quality”: SCW was recently awarded funding from the Carbone Cancer Center to support a project suggested by the SCW Rural Task Force focused on colonoscopy. This project is a new collaboration with the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) and the Rural Wisconsin Health Collaborative (RWHC) and aims to address the need for colonoscopy quality measurement and education for performance improvement. Importantly, the budget includes stipends for participating hospitals/surgeons as well as for IT personnel with expertise in automated data abstraction from the EHR. Stay tuned for updates as we will be seeking surgeon champions to enroll hospitals soon.
• “Addressing Opioid Prescribing in the Stateline”: This 2-year project, funded in 2019 by the Hendricks Family Foundation, aims to address opioid prescribing in the Stateline area. To do this, SCW surgeon champions practicing in hospitals on the Wisconsin-Illinois border are engaging in an educational program to implement best practices for opioid prescribing. Training has shifted to a virtual format, with a series of educational modules that include evidence-based practices, recommended opioid prescribing guidelines and more. Modules will soon be made available to anyone in the state, and, importantly, will fulfill the “2.0 Responsible Opioid Prescribing State Requirement” for providers.
• “Expanding Disposal of Unused Medication in Surgical Settings”: This recently concluded pilot project was funded by the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services with the goal of developing best practices around disposal of unused opioids prescribed after surgical procedures. Three SCW surgery clinics developed protocols for distributing opioid neutralizing bags to patients and collected data regarding use. The team is currently reviewing the findings and feedback with a goal of distributing recommendations to SCW surgeons more broadly in 2021. We would like to thank the three clinics who participated in this project, Door County Medical Center, the UW Health Breast Clinic and the UW Health Park Street clinic.