BMC2 receives national recognition for achievements in health care quality

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium, known as BMC2, was honored with the 2023 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award, at the local level, from the Joint Commission and National Quality Forum.

The Eisenberg Awards recognize groundbreaking initiatives that are consistent with the aims of the National Quality Strategy:

• Better care
• Healthy people and communities
• Smarter spending

The achievements of each recipient represent initiatives that health care providers and leaders at every level can learn from to improve care for patients.

BCM2, a Blue Cross-funded Collaborative Quality Initiative, was recognized for its remarkable improvements in the documentation of radiation use, a decrease in high-dose radiation exposure and opioid pill prescribing rates.

“Through the innovative, cooperative structure of the BMC2 CQI, participants have generated scientific learnings and best practices that have contributed significantly to the international evidence base for high-quality cardiac care,” said Dr. James Grant, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Blue Cross. “BMC2 success has been the pacesetter for all other CQIs, and we couldn’t be prouder.”

Ensuring radiation safety

To help physicians see where to guide the wires during a cardiac catheterization procedure, they often use a technique called fluoroscopy, which uses radiation. Exposure to radiation can increase the risk of developing cancer.

Participants in BMC2 have developed recommendations for ways to reduce patient and staff exposure to harmful high-dose radiation. As a result, BMC2 sites achieved an overall 43% decrease in cases with high-dose radiation exposure.

Lowering opioid use

BMC2 participants have successfully reduced the number of opioid pills they prescribe to their patients who receive vascular surgery. Prescribing the most appropriate amount of opioids helps prevent patients from developing persistent opioid use, which is a common complication after surgery. It also helps to keep excess, unused prescriptions out of the community where they can be used inappropriately.

BMC2 data showed improvement in the rate of patients with a prescription of fewer than 10 opioid pills by approximately 30% between 2018 (62%) and 2021 (91%).

A collaborative, best-practice approach

The Eisenberg Award panel was impressed by BMC2’s dissemination of its work. BMC2 data has supported more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed medical journals and more than 100 presentations at national and international conferences.

The panel noted that this kind of collaborative, best-practice approach improved outcomes, reduced costs and could be replicated by other states. The panel was inspired by BMC2’s inclusive scope across so many clinicians, physicians, teams and sites, acknowledging the collaborative is “working to improve care, at every institution, and for every patient. It's remarkable.”

About BMC2

BMC2 is an internationally recognized statewide consortium of 39 Michigan hospitals and nearly 700 physicians. The consortium turns competitors into collaborators who collect and share data and then develop and implement best practices that improve quality and outcomes for patients statewide.

BMC2 annually affects approximately 30,000 Michigan patients who have angioplasties, vascular surgeries or valve surgeries, and those who undergo cardiac rehabilitation after their procedures. Over the years, BMC2 participants have experienced increased safety through reductions in surgical site infections, kidney injury, bleeding and vascular complications, among others. BMC2 efforts have also resulted in a lower risk of patients’ readmission and death.

More than 25 years of quality collaboration

Blue Cross launched BMC2* in 1997 with five Michigan hospitals in a collaborative effort to improve quality, cost and outcomes of angioplasty procedures. Since then, the consortium has grown to include every non-federal hospital in the state that performs coronary angioplasty. The initial successes seen in BMC2 inspired Blue Cross to launch more than 20 additional statewide Collaborative Quality Initiatives, each one focusing on a common and costly medical or surgical area that needs improvement.

For more information on CQIs and other Blue Cross Value Partnerships programs, visit valuepartnerships.com.

*Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network don’t own or control this website.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.