The Multiple Sclerosis Continuous Quality Improvement Collaborative (MS-CQI) is the first prospective multi-center randomized improvement research collaborative for multiple sclerosis (MS). MS-CQI began as a research study which was conducted from 2017-2020 and has subsequently developed into a community of scholarship and practice which continues to the present day.
The MS-CQI Collaborative is led by Dr. Brant Oliver at Dartmouth, who served as the principal investigator for the original MS-CQI study, and is composed of people with MS, researchers, learners (interns, residents, and fellows), quality improvement professionals, and multiple sclerosis clinicians. The Collaborative is organized in a “hub and spoke” manner overseen by the research lead team at Dartmouth (hub site) supported by an independent data analytics center at the Jefferson College of Population Health. Four MS clinical care centers participated in MS-CQI, following approximately 5,000 persons with MS over 3 years (2017-2020), including Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts; the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont; the Concord Hospital MS Specialty Care Program in Concord, New Hampshire; and Neurology Associates, PC, in Orlando, Florida.
MS-CQI was designed based on the coproduction learning health system model and aims to describe site-level variation in MS care utilization and outcomes and to compare outcomes for sites engaged in a coach-supported quality improvement (intervention) versus usual care (control). In the final year of the study (2020), which coincided with the onset of the COVID pandemic, MS-CQI modified its protocol to include a sub-study on telehealth utilization during the pandemic. Additional MS-CQI sub-studies include an investigation of the effects of the coach-supported QI intervention on developing front-line QI capability in MS center teams, and a qualitative study of MS centers participating in MS-CQI to describe factors contributing to successful QI and the effect of participation in MS-CQI on burnout and resilience.
Since its inception in 2017, MS-CQI has presented over 30 peer-reviewed invited abstracts and platform presentations internationally at major professional and academic conferences including the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the Consortium of MS Centers (CMSC), the International Society for Improvement in Health Care (ISQua), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Scientific Symposium, the Academy Health Research Meeting (ARM), the International Society for Population Outcomes Research (ISPOR), the Jonkoping Microsystem Festival, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ACTRIMS) and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ETRIMS). Following the conclusion of the original study in late 2020, the MS-CQI study investigators are now moving multiple publications forward describing the results and implications of the study.
Please contact Fal Mehta (project manager) with any MS-CQI related inquiries at FalMehta@Outlook.com.
