Resources
Practical guidance for healthcare quality leaders.
Curated articles, guides, and answers to the questions we hear most often from skilled nursing facilities and hospitals navigating CMS quality programs.
Key topics for quality leaders
Understanding the Five-Star Quality Rating System
A plain-language breakdown of how CMS calculates Star Ratings across health inspections, staffing, and quality measures — and where most facilities have the most room to improve.
How Value-Based Purchasing Penalties Work — and How to Avoid Them
VBP adjustments can cost facilities hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. This guide explains the scoring methodology, the measures that matter most, and the improvement levers available to your team.
Using PDSA Cycles to Drive Lasting Quality Improvement
The Plan-Do-Study-Act framework is one of the most effective tools in healthcare quality improvement. Learn how to apply it to real clinical challenges — from readmission reduction to medication safety.
Reducing 30-Day Readmissions in Post-Acute Care
Readmission rates are a central driver of both CMS Star Ratings and Value-Based Purchasing scores. This guide covers the key risk factors, evidence-based transitional care strategies, and the data tracking practices that help facilities sustain lower readmission rates over time.
Building a Quality Dashboard Your Leadership Team Will Actually Use
Most quality dashboards are too complex or too narrow to drive decisions. Learn what metrics to track, how to present them clearly, and how to build a review cadence that keeps your team focused.
Preparing for Leapfrog Hospital Survey Reporting
The Leapfrog Hospital Survey is one of the most rigorous public transparency tools in healthcare. This guide walks through the key domains, common pitfalls, and how to align your data across multiple reporting databases.
Frequently asked questions
Answers to the questions we hear most often from facility administrators and quality directors.
Have a question not covered here?
Reach out directly — Alexandra is happy to answer questions about your facility's specific situation.
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