BCBSM Cardiovascular Consortium / Collaborative Quality Initiative

The first collaborative quality initiative launched by BCBSM, physicians and hospitals, this project has yielded dramatic results and spurred the creation of similar initiatives in other areas of medical and surgical care.

Before the start of this project, some 3,731 angioplasty patients treated at five Michigan hospitals received widely varying levels of care. Five years later, after the intensive quality improvement project was underway, 5,901 patients undergoing angioplasty received much better and more uniform care and did better overall, with lower rates of heart and kidney complications.

Now involving 80 percent of all angioplasty services in Michigan, the project has enhanced the safety and care of angioplasty patients across the state, saving lives, avoiding serious complications and saving more than $8 million in medical care costs annually.