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CMS leader, hospitals among Codman Award winners

Quality Improvement Monitor, December 2, 2004

The quality coordination director at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and two hospitals and a hospital group were among the seven winners of the 2004 Ernest A. Codman Award for the use of processes and outcomes measures to improve healthcare quality and safety, according to the JCAHO.

Stephen Jencks, MD, a retired rear admiral and member of the public health service, was picked to lead quality coordination at CMS three months ago. He pushes for consistency in quality improvement programs at Medicare, Medicaid, quality improvement organizations, and the nursing home survey program.

Jencks said CMS also will focus on improving nursing-home immunization rates and reducing surgical complications in the future.

Receiving the award for hospitals were Stamford (CT) Hospital and Staten Island University Hospital in New York. Stamford received the award for creating a protocol to monitor blood glucose levels in critically ill patients. Stamford reduced length of stay for these patients by 11% and mortality rates by 29%.

Staten Island University Hospital began a protocol for high-risk hip fracture patients, reducing mortality rates from 4.9% to 1% among that group.

The Codman Award was created in 1996 and was named for the physician regarded as "the father of outcomes measurement," according to the JCAHO. The JCAHO presented the awards Thursday at its national patient safety and quality conference in Chicago.

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