Inova Health System Honored for Achievements in Diabetes Care

AMGA’s 2019 Together 2 Goal^® Awards Recognize Top Performers in National Diabetes Initiative

Falls Church, VA – Inova Health System has received a national award for its achievements in diabetes care from the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Together 2 Goal^® campaign, an initiative that challenges leading healthcare organizations to work together to transform diabetes care for Americans across the country. Inova and its Clinically Integrated Network, Signature Partners, were among the four organizations to receive a 2019 Together 2 Goal Award. Inova was recognized for Best Performance in the Basic Track in a ceremony on March 29, 2019.

Supported by AMGA Foundation, Together 2 Goal has united more than 150 medical groups and health systems to improve diabetes care for more than 750,000 people to date – a major milestone in its goal of reaching 1 million by 2021. As a part of the campaign, Inova has implemented best practices to improve the quality of diabetes care and reported blood sugar control rates for its diabetes patient population on a quarterly basis. This information adds to AMGA’s research and provides an opportunity to evaluate care and drive further improvements.

Across America, there is a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases, including diabetes. Inova engages a team of skilled health professionals including primary care physicians, endocrinologists, cardiologists, diabetic educators, case managers, social workers, pharmacists, and behavioral health therapists who all work together to provide comprehensive care to patients with diabetes. A key initiative of the population health team at Inova is case manager outreach to patients with chronic diseases, providing telephonic case consultation around disease management education, medication reconciliation, and follow-up with their health care team.

“We work with compassion to ensure every action we take puts the patient and family first,” says Neeta Goel, MD, Medical Director, Quality & Population Health, Inova Medical Group and Signature Partners. “Inova’s participation in Together 2 Goal added a new dimension to our care of patients with diabetes, providing additional best practice strategies and strengthening our diabetes management abilities.”

“It’s due to the hard work of organizations like Inova that we have been able to collectively improve care for over 750,000 people with Type 2 diabetes,” says John W. Kennedy, MD, AMGA chief medical officer and AMGA Foundation president. “Continued support from Inova and their fellow campaign participants will be instrumental in helping us reach our goal of one million lives improved.”

2019 Together 2 Goal Award Winners:

• Best Performance – Basic Track¹: Inova Health System/Signature Partners
• Best Performance – Core Track² (Small Group³): Coastal Carolina Health Care, PA
• Best Performance – Core Track (Medium Group⁴): USMD Health System
• Best Performance – Core Track (Large Group⁵): Scripps Medical Foundation

1. This category recognizes the highest performer whose self-reported data to the campaign is limited to blood sugar control rates.
2. This category recognizes the highest performers across different group sizes who self-report data to the campaign on the diabetes bundle measure. This measure includes blood sugar and blood pressure control rates, statin management, and medical attention for kidney disease.
3. A small group is defined as a medical group or health system with fewer than 150 FTE physicians.
4. A medium group is defined as a medical group or health system with an FTE count equal to or greater than 150 and less than 500.
5. A large group is defined as a medical group or health system an FTE physician count equal to or greater than 500.

About Inova

Inova is Northern Virginia’s leading nonprofit healthcare provider, employing more than 18,000 team members and serving more than 2 million individuals annually through an integrated network of hospitals, primary and specialty care practices, emergency and urgent care centers, outpatient services and destination institutes such as the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, Inova Schar Cancer Institute and Inova Neuroscience and Spine Institute. Our mission is to provide world-class healthcare – every time, every touch – to each person in every community we have the privilege to serve. Founded in 1956 as the Fairfax Hospital Association, Inova has grown with its surrounding community and the region to provide a full spectrum of health services, including Northern Virginia’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Its hospitals have a total of 1,800 licensed beds.

Four of Inova’s five hospitals have received five-star rankings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; they are the only hospitals in the Washington, DC region to have earned the highest rating from the federal agency. To achieve its mission of providing world-class healthcare to a diverse community, Inova is home to prominent clinicians and scientists who drive innovation to improve patient care, prevent disease and promote wellness. More information and statistics about Inova can be found at www.inova.org.

About the Together 2 Goal^® Campaign
AMGA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AMGA, launched Together 2 Goal, a national campaign to fight the challenge of Type 2 diabetes on March 12, 2016. Together 2 Goal® includes more than 150 medical groups, health systems, nonprofit partners, and corporate collaborators such as the American Association of Diabetes Educators, American Diabetes Association, Geisinger, Henry Ford Health System, The Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Intermountain Healthcare, and Ochsner Health System. The goal of the five-year campaign is to improve care for 1 million people with Type 2 diabetes by 2021. together2goal.org

About AMGA Foundation
AMGA Foundation is AMGA’s philanthropic arm that enables medical groups and other organized systems of care to consistently improve health and health care. AMGA Foundation serves as a catalyst, connector, and collaborator for translating the evidence of what works best in improving health and health care in everyday practice. amga.org/foundation

About AMGA
AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans. amga.org