Nicole Keane

Nicole Keane, MSN, RN, CPHQ has an extensive clinical and research background in healthcare quality improvement, measure development, team-building and formative evaluation in post-acute and primary care settings. Her focus is providing technical assistance to healthcare systems and clinicians to drive quality improvement through learning and implementing the skills of measure development, implementation, benchmarking, analysis, and report writing.

Keane is an expert project director and task lead for several high profile Abt projects with Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She brings clinical and technical expertise to project teams, along with enthusiasm and experience to facilitate collaborative quality improvement in areas such as clinical evaluation of COVID data, improving opioid prescribing practices in primary and post-acute care, improving cardiac rehabilitation referrals, improving dementia care, capturing and disseminating national innovative healthcare practices, and revising post-acute care payment structures.

Expertise

• Value-Based Care Payment Models
• Training and Technical Assistance
• Implementation and Monitoring
• Care Coordination and Management
• Data Collection and Analysis

Key Projects

• Identifying and Testing Strategies for Management of Opioid Use and Misuse in Older Adults in Primary Care Practices, AHRQ
• Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Nursing Homes, Massachusetts Department of Health (MassDPH)
• Dementia Care in Nursing Homes, MassDPH
• Home Health Value Based Purchasing (HHVBP) – Technical Assistance, CMS
• Measure & Instrument Development and Support (MIDS) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) Quality Measure Development and Maintenance Project, CMS

Publications

• Shoemaker, S.J., Sargent, W., Swan, H., Mikosz, C., Cobb, K., McDonald, D., Keane, N., Von Korff, M., Parchman, M., Losby, J. Developing Clinical Quality Improvement Measures Aligned with the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain: An Important Strategy to Support Safer Prescribing in Primary Care. American College of Medical Quality. July 2020.
• Shoemaker, S.J., Sargent, W., McDonald, D., Losby, J., Swan, H., Mikosz, C., Keane, N. Creating and Implementing Quality Improvement (QI) Opioid Measures to Improve Opioid Prescribing in Primary Care. American Public Health Association Annual Conference. San Diego, CA. November 2018.
• Sargent, W., Swan, H., Mikosz, C., Shoemaker, S.J., Losby, J., McDonald, D., and Keane, N. Developing Clinical Quality Improvement (QI) Measures Related to CDC’s Opioid Prescribing Guideline to Support Safer Prescribing of Patients on Opioid Therapy in Primary Care. Academy Health’s Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health. Arlington, VA. December 2017.
• Keane, N., Daniels, T., Swan, H., Kiros, R., Smileye, J., Padilla, J.G., Moore, T., & Perdue, J. Strategic Innovation Engine: Spreading Innovative Practices in Health Care Quality. IHI Scientific Symposium. Orlando, FL, December 2016.
• Plotzke, M., Christian, TJ, Fout, B., Keane, N., White, A., Medicare Home Health Prospective Payment System: Case-Mix Methodology Refinements; Overview of the Home Health Groupings Model. Prepared for: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. November 2016