Sweetser has been recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a TCPI (Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative) Exemplary Practice.
A formal Letter of Commendation was presented to the Northern New England Practice Transformation Network (NNEPTN) team in celebration on September 11, 2019. 
In 2016, Sweetser partnered with NNEPTN, led by Maine Quality Counts (now Qualidigm) to engage in quality improvement efforts to enhance the way we provide services. Through this partnership and funding from CMS, Sweetser was provided with local and national resources, including a dedicated practice facilitator and a 22-milestone roadmap to ensure our success in practice transformation. Over the last 3 years, Sweetser has engaged a team of staff, clinicians, and leaders across the organization to select meaningful measures related to the care we provide, build a system to collect and review clinical data, operationalize changes to achieve our aims, and – most importantly – improve our quality of care.
As a graduate of practice transformation, Sweetser is recognized as a leader in Value and Quality of Care at both the state and national level. Graduation is intended to position a practice to engage in alternative payments models. Sweetser is currently engaged in multiple value-based payer contracts, buoyed by its success in these ongoing Quality efforts.
During celebration activities, the NNEPTN team took time to reflect on how this experience has had an impact beyond the milestones. They realized the significance of data collection to identify areas of need, how to work together to address them, and how to speak “report writer” language. They recognized external achievements, such as successful attestations in Meaningful Use and Merit-based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS). They recognized that through this process, they experienced aspects of learning, skill building, connecting, supporting, encouraging, and creating vision together as a team.
The work of this dedicated team continues, and will expand to include in partnership all programs and departments within the agency. Congratulations on this achievement. Here’s to many more!
