MIBAC is a statewide quality improvement collaborative with an initial focus on better care for low back pain within the first 6 months of an episode or acute flare of back pain.

Low back pain can be frustrating for both patients and clinicians. There is often no single cause for the pain that can be “fixed” with one approach to treatment. There can then be unnecessary imaging studies and referrals, use of unproven therapies, over-use of opioids, and dissatisfied patients who never do get effective relief of pain.

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and has been shown to be a significant risk factor for suicide.

The fundamental reason to be involved in MIBAC is better patient care and better outcomes for a common clinical condition that can be frustrating for patients and clinicians alike. Beyond that, participation in MIBAC should help with standardized performance metrics related to low back pain specifically and to population cost of care more broadly that are used by private and public payors. Based on 25+ years of experience in Michigan with collaborative quality improvement programs, clinicians find them engaging, rewarding, and satisfying as a way to become better at what they do.

Additionally, happy patients return to you, tell their other healthcare providers about the care you provided, and tell their friends. Providing the highest quality care and involving the patient in their care plan will boost patient self-efficacy and improved satisfaction. If you are being "measured" on other metrics (i.e., HEDIS or others), participation in MIBAC can be another way to improve your scores on these measures. If you bring your colleagues from your practice it can streamline how we talk to patients and reduce variations in verbiage, pathways, etc., when sharing patients.

The Collaborative Quality Initiative (CQI) program has been highly effective in improving the health of our state, by investigating, educating, and incentivizing high-quality care. Clinicians want to help their patients! When they are shown proof of efficacy for a treatment technique, medication, referral pathway, etc., they will adopt those changes to do what is best for their patients, and the CQI model guides that process, collects relevant existing research, performs pilots with participating sites, educates the state (and further), and collaborative celebrates successes.

The collaborative quality improvement activities follow the pattern of more than 20 other BCBSM-supported statewide improvement collaboratives that have consistently demonstrated tangible improvements in processes and outcomes of care, and real savings to employers and citizens of Michigan in general who incur the cost of medical care. Henry Ford Health houses the Coordinating Centers for MIBAC, MSSIC (Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative), and MiMIND (Michigan Mental Health Innovation Network for Clinical Design), and the remainder of the Coordinating Centers are housed at Michigan Medicine / University of Michigan Health System.

The collaborative quality improvement activities follow the pattern of more than 20 other BCBSM-supported statewide improvement collaboratives that have consistently demonstrated tangible improvements in processes and outcomes of care, and real savings to employers and citizens of Michigan in general who incur the cost of medical care.

The most effective way to get support from our team is to email us at: support@mibaccqi.zohodesk.com.

Emailing us at the address above creates a ticket in our system and notifies all of us that someone needs assistance. Between 8:30 am - 4:00 pm Monday-Friday, A team member sees the ticket and routes it to the individual best able to respond, and it is tracked through our system from the day the email is received through the time the ticket was closed. Program support is also available at 313-407-6195 (the MIBAC Coordinating Center), mibac@hfhs.org, or by filling out the “contact us” form on this website.

During normal business hours, we can usually assist you right away. After business hours, please leave a message and we will reach out to you on the next business day