PatientIQ was selected as the preferred technology vendor to support the Michigan Back Collaborative (MIBAC) registry, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) and Blue Care Network (BCN). MIBAC is a Collaborative Quality Initiative (CQI) and prospective registry designed to improve patient outcomes and patient satisfaction for patients with low back pain (LBP). MIBAC will involve physician organizations and individual practices from throughout the state. The Coordinating Center will be based at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) and Blue Care Network (BCN) as part of the Value Partnerships program.
MIBAC addresses patient and clinician dissatisfaction and the rising costs of care for patients with LBP. Due to rising costs, surgery and advanced treatment are becoming more heavily scrutinized by policymakers, motivating surgeons and payers to demonstrate and improve outcomes. BCBSM created MIBAC as a collaborative, prospective registry to review outcomes data, share “best practices,” and identify areas of opportunity for statewide quality improvement (QI) initiatives that reduce costs, often by reducing complications for patients.
MIBAC aims to give clinicians access to an expanded “toolbox” for delivering evidence-based care and conducting outcomes-based research. The MIBAC registry will be hosted on the PatientIQ platform, utilizing core patient engagement and data science technology to collect and analyze patient outcomes. In addition, the cloud-based registry acts as a network connecting the MIBAC Provider Network (MPN) to jointly submit, research, and report on outcomes data within a HIPAA-compliant, HITRUST secured database.
The MIBAC registry will aggregate prospective data focusing on patient-reported outcomes from patients with lower back pain. Clinicians are also encouraged to submit clinical data for the registry, such as procedural or comorbidity data. To detect, filter, and enroll patients with lower back pain that match quality initiative criteria, PatientIQ’s system will be integrated with Henry Ford Health System’s Epic electronic health record. Once a patient is enrolled, PatientIQ’s workflow engine will automate sending personalized reminders via email or SMS to patients to complete assessments and satisfaction surveys on behalf of their clinician. PatientIQ hosts a library of over 500 standardized survey instruments, including the entire PROMIS computer adaptive test library, to collect basic data on pain, functional status, and quality of life.
As part of the collaborative quality improvement initiative, MIBAC will conduct regular analysis of registry data to understand variations in outcomes, track progress on key quality metrics, and identify potential best practices in clinical areas of musculoskeletal care. Clinicians and other stakeholders leverage Analytics Autopilot, PatientIQ’s built-in biostatistical modeling engine, to benchmark and report on registry datasets and generate interactive charts and figures.
