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  • We are very proud of the way our team and ICSI working groups pivoted so rapidly to help serve healthcare’s needs during this past year. In ICSI’s 202 Annual Report we describe more about this pivot and how healthcare leaders came together with ICSI to engage in COVID-19 response activities. From a commitment to health equity supported by 30 major Minnesota healthcare organizations to advancing our work in improving opioid prescription standards, to building best practices to help support the wellbeing of our healthcare heroes, ICSI has continued to play a vital role in our communities. ICSI has always been known as the epicenter for evidence-based improvement and collaboration in healthcare – where healthcare leaders of all disciplines, care delivery, plans, and others come together to drive improvement and innovation. Download the ICSI 2024 Annual Report here. ...

  • For several reasons beyond our control, our membership model has become increasingly vulnerable as financial support from ICSI members has declined. As a result, ICSI will cease operation at the end of 2024....

  • A new site, Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Best Practices, provides clinical and implementation resources for clinicians treating patients with opioid use disorder in multiple settings including offices, emergency departments, and inpatient settings, and jails/correctional facilities. ...

  • Over the course of the past three years, ICSI has convened a group of Minnesota surgeons eager to develop a more patient-centered, procedure-specific approach to postoperative opioid prescriptions. One goal was to reduce the risk of addiction among postoperative patients while still providing effective pain management by creating recommendations that could a) reduce the variation among surgeons prescribing for identical procedures and b) provide evidence-based guidance for improving postoperative opioid prescribing practices across many different surgical procedures....

  • The MN EHR Consortium leads the country in the use of aggregate data to help spot gaps in infection and testing rates, and COVID-19 vaccination distribution. ...

  • We’re encouraged to see the advancement of the new Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing Unit (EmPATH) at St. Cloud Hospital, and we applaud the leaders at CentraCare Health for taking this innovative step. EmPATH, originally the “Alameda Model,” has been under the scrutiny of our ICSI mental health working group over the past couple of years, of which CentraCare is part. It is a promising addition to the mental health continuum for people in crisis. A study of the Alameda Model in 2014 showed that it reduced ED length-of-stay by over 80%, and approximately 76% of patients were able to be discharged from the unit avoiding unnecessary hospitalization. Similar results have been experienced in Billings, MT for a rural population. Learn more about the new EmPATH unit here.      ...

  • ICSI's Dr. Jodie Dvorkin, MPH and other physicians from Allina and HealthPartners featured in KSTP-TV news story on Johnson & Johnson vaccine. ...

  • Vaccination working group has created a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Designed as a tool for healthcare clinicians faced with a multitude of questions from patients and others as the new vaccines are rolled out, the FAQ covers a broad range of topics including vaccine availability, information about vaccine trials, and patient eligibility. The new COVID-19 Vaccine FAQ will be updated on a weekly basis as new information becomes available and more common questions emerge....

  • Our work with 30 organizations to gain consensus on a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion within the Minnesota healthcare industry was recently featured on KSTP-TV. Watch the story here. ...

  • ICSI reflects on 2024, Year-End Message...

  • Representatives from ICSI announced efforts to improve postoperative opioid prescribing practices in Minnesota have resulted in significant risk reduction for patients requiring pain management after specific surgical procedures. ...

  • By Claire Neely, MD, FAAP President & CEO AS WE REFLECT ON 2024 we feel a deep gratitude for you, each of our members and partners of ICSI. The vital importance of your work and our healthcare systems has never been more evident than in 2024, and the critical need to take action together has never been so clear. ICSI has always been known as an epicenter for evidence-based improvement and collaboration in healthcare - where healthcare leaders of all disciplines, care delivery, plans and others come together to drive improvement and innovation. And ICSI is you. Thank you for sharing your time, expertise, financial support - and in this trying year, for helping to pivot ICSI to tackle the toughest health problems of our times. Click here to download more information about ICSI’s accomplishments in 2024....

  • A new study about routine laboratory testing for psychiatric admissions, presented by ICSI collaborative member Kurt M. Isenberger, MD, was recently published. Common practice for psychiatric admissions in hospitals usually includes conducting laboratory testing. ...

  • Representatives from ICSI announced they have wrapped their first series of live, interactive sessions focused on sharing ways to proactively support the mental and emotional health of the healthcare workforce during the pandemic. The sessions began on April 14, 2024 and continued on a bi-weekly basis through September of this year. Each session featured healthcare leaders presenting implementation strategies including models for intervention, peer support, stress reduction and other factors impacting the wellbeing of healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19....

  • ICSI announced the introduction of two new tools to help identify and support safer opioid prescribing when pain management is required. The Opioid Prescribing Improvement Guide addresses opioid prescribing for patients with acute, subacute, and chronic pain and is accompanied by the Postoperative Prescribing Toolkit, focused specifically on the initial postoperative discharge and post-acute phase of opioid prescribing. ...

  • ICSI is proud to announce the creation of a joint commitment across health service providers and healthcare stakeholders throughout Minnesota to eliminate systemic racism and its negative impact on health and well-being. ...

  • Representatives from ICSI announced that Nathan Chomilo, MD, has been named to its Board of Directors. Dr. Chomilo, a pediatrician and internist who sees patients at Health Partners Park Nicollet Clinic – Brookdale, is also a well-known equity advocate working to reduce racial disparities in education and healthcare. Dr. Chomilo was hired by Minnesota’s Department of Human Services (DHS) as its Medicaid Medical Director in December of 2024....

  • When it comes to COVID-19, there is still much we don’t know. On the other hand, there is a lot that we DO know. As a healthcare provider and a leader, it’s disappointing how little that knowledge is being applied....

  • Earlier this month Sanford Health Chief Medical Officer Allison Suttle, MD, recently wrote an insightful article for NEJM Catalyst on the impact of COVID-19 in South Dakota. While hospitals in that state have not come close to filling the capacity prepared for the pandemic, the region, like many other rural areas across the country, is anticipating different kinds of surges as preventative health visits and vaccination rates plummet, unemployment rises, and many residents lose their healthcare....

  • As we move toward resuming activities during the time of COVID-19, naturally the question arises as to whether or not our children should be back in school this fall. In a nutshell we need to determine – is school safe?It’s not a question that has a definitive answer. Like so many topics surrounding the pandemic, we need to consider many different factors and perhaps rephrase the question in several different ways. ...

  • COVID-19 has created extraordinary challenges for medical professionals and institutions who care for those ill with the novel coronavirus. The sheer magnitude of the experience of treating COVID-19 patients and the risks that come with such work, alongside threats to global economies, social stabilities and entire ways of life, can cause significant trauma to health care workers....

  • ICSI announced that the first edition of a new Mental Health Playbook is now available. The Playbook was created to provide planning and implementation strategies to support the current and long-term mental and emotional wellbeing of the healthcare workforce....

  • The senseless loss of Mr. Floyd’s life has once again pointed out the deadliness of systemic racism, specifically as it shows up in our police systems. As we know, however, racism exists in many different levels within many different systems. As part of the healthcare system, our responsibility right now is to take a good hard look at ourselves....

  • We’ve done a good job of slowing the rate of infection, and given our hospitals the time they need to prepare for caring for people who will be getting quite sick from COVID-19 for months to come. But that is just a start. In fact, we now have another large hurdle to overcome. We need to regain ground where other important healthcare have been delayed. We need to “catch up” in several important areas of healthcare....

  • By Sarah Horst, ICSI Team Director For the last six months I have been conducting a workshop entitled Lead Courageous Quality Improvement with Improv and Collaboration for audiences around the country. My job at ICSI is to do “capacity building” for healthcare leaders who know what they want to do technically, but are often stuck in the activities of how to get it done. The challenge with the how is often related to psychology – how people think and feel about the change. Within the healthcare industry there seems to be a lack of formal training to address the mindset needed for change. To address that need our team at ICSI developed the Quality Improv(e) Framework....

  • By Dr. Claire Neely, ICSI President & CEO
    In the past few years, our healthcare industry has done a better job of addressing issues around mental health for our healthcare professionals with new programs to help promote the wellbeing and emotional resiliency. Some medical schools are trying to reduce the impacts of physician burnout with training that teaches a more balanced, therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient, as opposed to the more traditional, hierarchical experience most of us were shown.

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  • We are excited to share the first iteration of our website dedicated to mental health support for the healthcare workforce. The new site was created based on the collective vision of Minnesota's healthcare providers, plans and partners....

  • To slow the spread of COVID-19, Governor Walz and the Minnesota Department of Health issued a stay at home order last week directing Minnesotans to limit movement outside of the home beyond essential needs. Based on our experience with other infectious disease epidemics like measles and polio, we need all Minnesotans to take this order seriously....

  • As a physician, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the greater risks associated with COVID-19 for people with chronic conditions. And I’ve also been thinking about how many people may not realize they actually have a chronic condition. For many people, their chronic health conditions are well managed, and don’t limit their day to day activities. But, they may still be at increased risk of serious illness, if they are infected with COVID 19....

  • In our Board of Directors meeting last week several of our ICSI leaders were discussing how grateful we are to reside in Minnesota during this time. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread in our state, our Minnesota healthcare community of providers, clinics, physicians, plans and partners are prepared for a biological emergency like COVID-19....

  • Last spring the MN Health Collaborative announced a new set of evidence-based recommendations for suicide prevention and intervention in Emergency Departments. These standards, adapted by work groups consisting of physicians and other leaders from Emergency Departments and psychiatry, are rooted in the mix of combined experience of MN Health Collaborative's members, shared learnings about tools and current or planned practices in use, and review of existing relevant literature....

  • Representatives from the MN Health Collaborative and ICSI have released initial results from a nearly two-year effort to implement new acute-care and post-surgical prescription standards for opioids....

  • Tani Hemmila, MS, ICSI's Director for the MN Health Collaborative, was interviewed recently on RadioRev, a healthcare podcast for change makers looking to do more than just health engagement by helping people to take action and do things that improve their health....

  • When you know WHAT you want to do, but the HOW is challenging, having a comprehensive toolkit that addresses the model for improvement, adaptive engagement methods and a collaborative and flexible mindset is important. Leading change is hard. We can help....

  • Please join us for a webinar on Tuesday, November 19th, Noon-1:00 p.m. with Dr. Charles Reznikoff, as he provides an update on the MN Department of Human Services opioid prescriber reports....

  • Lead Courageous QI with Improv & Collaboration: Strengthen your ability to lead QI conversations by adopting an improvisational mindset and applying adaptive collaboration methods. / Motivational Interviewing: If you are looking to have more collaborative conversations about change, this session is for you. ...

  • The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) announced the formal launch of its Quality Improv(e) program, an adaptive approach that blends the science of improvement with the art of improvisation. The Quality Improv(e) framework provides a new way for healthcare leadership, clinicians and staff to approach change management and achieve more effective ways to develop, test and implement quality improvement....

  • Integrated behavioral health (IBH) in primary care is shown to improve access and health outcomes for those with mental health conditions, and can help maximize valuable, yet scarce, mental health resources. To further advance IBH, MN Health Collaborative partners have adopted a common framework which includes both key evidence-based elements needed for improved outcomes and how it can be adapted to meet local needs....

  • Join us for this lunch-time webinar with presenters Mike Troy, PhD, Medical Director of Behavioral Health Services and Associate Medical Director of Children's Neuroscience Institute of Children's MN and Chris Beamish, LICSW, System Director, Behavioral Health Clinical Integration at Fairview Health Services....

  • This week we are grateful that the work of MN Health Collaborative was featured in a news story by mental health reporter Andy Steiner. The MinnPost story describes how MN Health Collaborative partners have developed and implemented standards for suicide prevention and intervention in Emergency Departments (EDs) to improve care for people experiencing mental health crisis and support the people who serve them in EDs....

  • In 2018, leaders from EDs and psychiatry developed and adopted shared standards for medical clearance evaluation in EDs to ensure a person is medically stable for transition to inpatient psychiatric facilities. The goal of these standards is to decrease the wide variation in practice that leads to unnecessary tests and delays in patient care....

  • The MN Health Collaborative announced today they have developed new evidence-based recommendations for suicide prevention and intervention in EDs. The shared standards, developed by physicians and other leaders from both emergency departments and psychiatry, are based on MN Health Collaborative members’ expertise, shared learnings regarding tools and current or planned practices in use, and review of existing relevant literature....

  • Affordability represents one of the most urgent problems impacting health care today, in Minnesota and across the United States. It’s important to reiterate that health care spending per person has doubled in recent years, while the state’s economic growth and per capita income have not grown nearly as rapidly....

  • Twelve of the largest health systems in Minnesota have come together to address major health issues in a new effort called the Minnesota Health Collaborative. These systems provide care and coverage for 80 percent of the patients in Minnesota. Together they are tackling major health topics that affect all communities, starting with the opioid epidemic and mental health crisis. ...

  • The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) Board of Directors today announced that Claire S. Neely, MD has been named President and CEO, effective immediately. Dr. Neely has served as ICSI’s Chief Medical Officer since 2015, and has been with the organization since 2009....

  • Representatives from the MN Health Collaborative, a group of 14 Minnesota healthcare systems, announced they are currently developing an innovative approach to prescribing opioids for post-operative pain. The new approach addresses the unique needs of patients based on their past health histories, current diagnoses, and required surgical and post-operative treatment needs....

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