HCPro.com - Quality/Patient Safety - DO NOT USE Top Stories

Press Ganey report: Patient satisfaction increasing across the country

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:00 GMT

Patient satisfaction is on the rise, according to Press Ganey's annual Hospital Pulse Report. The report surveyed nearly 3 million patients about their experiences at more than 2,000 hospitals nationwide during 2008. Overall, patient satisfaction has steadily increased since 2003, with 85% of those surveyed reporting satisfaction with care in October 2008. Additionally, Press Ganey found that more patients than ever before (a 1.96 % increase) were likely to recommend the facility where they had received care to a friend. The area that most affects how patients rate their care corresponds to communication—how staff members communicate with patients, especially when concerns or complaints are expressed during their stays.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

Diagnosis errors: No easy fix

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:08:00 GMT

Physicians are responsible for one of the most complicated and important decisions in medicine: the diagnosis. Any further treatment plan rides on this diagnosis, and it may not be surprising that diagnosis error is now being looked at as a significant percentage of all medical errors. A report published in the November 9 Archives of Internal Medicine showed that anonymously, 310 physicians revealed 583 diagnosis errors, of which 44% were related to lab and radiology testing errors, including test ordering, test performance, and clinician processing.

But why do physicians make diagnosis errors? The answer lies in both cognitive processes and they systemic factors that influence the way in which a medical decision is made.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

RI hospital commits fifth wrong-site surgery since January 2007

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Staff members at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, RI, have committed the facility's fifth wrong-site surgery since January 2007, resulting in a $150,000 fine levied by the state's Department of Health, reports The Providence Journal. This is only the second time that the hospital has been fined, the first being after the hospital's third incorrect neurosurgery occurred in 2007. The latest wrong-site surgery involved a procedure done on a patient's incorrect finger.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

HHS awards $17 million to projects dedicated to preventing healthcare-associated infections

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:08:00 GMT

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it awarded $17 million to specific projects in the name of fighting healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Of the total award, $8 million will specifically fund the national expansion of the Keystone Project, a program that successfully reduced the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in Michigan hospitals within 18 months, saving 1,500 lives. The coordination of the program in all 50 states is being run through the American Hospital Association's Health Research & Educational Trust. Last year, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality expanded the Keystone Project to 10 states.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

Online tool helps potential H1N1 patients decide if they should visit hospital

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:04:00 GMT

Microsoft has created an online tool to help alleviate some of the burden felt by hospitals that have already become overcrowded with patients who think they might have the H1N1 flu, reports HealthLeaders Media. The tool, called the H1N1 Response Center, helps patients decide whether their symptoms warrant a trip to the doctor. The tool is currently being licensed by Emory University as a means of directing those patients who are exhibiting severe symptoms and most likely do have the flu to the hospital and encouraging those patients with milder symptoms to seek help elsewhere or stay at home.

To read more, click here.

Study: Large variance in quality at U.S. hospitals

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:44:00 GMT

The 12th Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study shows that a large gap exists between the top-performing, highest quality hospitals and the rest of the hospitals in the country. After examining 40 million Medicare hospitalization records dating from 2006 through 2008, HealthGrades found that patients treated at a top hospital were 52% less likely to die as a result of their care, as compared with the average American hospital. This gap has existed since the study was first done.

Some other points of interest that came out of the study include:

57% of preventable deaths included in the study were from sepsis, pneumonia, heart failure, and respiratory failure
Patients treated at a five-star hospital (the highest rating) had a 71.64% lower chance of dying than those treated at a one-star hospital (the lowest rating)
Hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission for stroke certification were almost twice as likely to attain a five-star rating for stroke care

Joint Commission releases 2010 National Patient Safety Goals

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:51:00 GMT

The Joint Commission released the 2010 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) last week, announcing to the field a significant reduction in the number of requirements from the 2009 NPSGs, reports HealthLeaders Media.

The 2010 NPSGs for hospitals contain 11 requirements, down from 20 in the 2009 (the nine missing goals have not been removed; they are now regular standards instead). There are no new NPSGs, although NPSGs 07.03.01, 07.04.01, and 07.05.01—which were phase-in goals during 2009 about preventing multiple drug-resistant organisms, central line-associated bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections—are now expected to be fully implemented and facilities will have to comply with them as of January 1, 2010. Additionally, many of the existing NPSGs contain significant changes for 2010.

NQF endorses set of measures to improve medication safety

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:20:00 GMT

The National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed a set of 18 measures to better manage over-the-counter and prescription medications and improve the safety of using such medications. The standards focus on helping patients improve their adherence to prescription regimens. Specifically, patients with certain conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, coronary artery disease, kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and schizophrenia, are more likely to be involved in a preventable adverse drug event due to incorrectly taking medication.

Click here to read more from the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

IHI launches Improvement Map Online Tool

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:45:00 GMT

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has launched the online component of its Improvement Map, which was announced at the December 2008 National Forum. The Improvement Map is a free, interactive, online tool that provides information on many of the interventions the IHI has undertaken and process improvements necessary to address these issues. The processes are broken up by domain (type of process) and by aim for improvement (the Institute of Medicine's six aims). Users can also search the Map by keyword to find information.

David Blumenthal releases personal message about importance of HIT

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:00:00 GMT

David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for Health Information Technology, recently released a message with the Department of Health and Human Services extolling the benefits of health information technology (HIT). Blumenthal is in charge of a large portion of funds ($19.2 billion, to be specific) made available by the federal government through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. In addition to ultimately making the jobs of doctors, nurses, and other clinicians easier and more efficient, introducing electronic medical records (EMR) as a part of an HIT initiative will greatly increase the quality of care afforded to patients, Blumenthal says.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

Improving efficiency, reducing waste are keys to safe, quality patient care

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:20:00 GMT

For years the healthcare industry has maintained that it is unlike others simply because caring for people is more complex than creating cars, shipping goods, or generating energy. However, hospitals are being forced to examine their processes this year as the healthcare reform debate continues. Healthcare has been exposed as being extremely wasteful and has not embraced simple technology that other industries adopted years ago to improve their workflows and products. In two separate stories, The Boston Globe and Business Week examine instances in which hospitals adopted new, more efficient practices and have seen positive outcomes.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

Patients infected during colonoscopies are suing VA

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:04:00 GMT

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expects to be fielding lawsuits for negligent handling of medical equipment, reports The Boston Globe. The lawsuits stem from an incident in December during which VA patients at a medical center in Tennessee were infected with HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C after equipment was not properly sterilized. More than 11,000 from three separate patients were notified that they could have possibly been infected via cross contamination and were advised to return for retesting. As of August 3, more than 50 patients reported infections.

Although the VA insists there is no link between infected patients and the endoscopy procedures, it is promising care to any infected patients. The problem was discovered after an investigation into sterilization procedures showed that staff members were not sterilizing endoscopy equipment after every use, and instead sterilizing the equipment at the end of each day.

To read more, click here.

NYTimes op-ed discusses how to lower costs, increase quality in American healthcare

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:12:00 GMT

To boost quality and lower healthcare costs, it's not necessary for the American healthcare system to adopt a foreign model, but rather to look to successful models that exist within the U.S. That's the message from an op-ed piece written by Atul Gawande, Donald Berwick, Elliot Fisher and Mark McClellan that appeared this weekend in the New York Times. These four healthcare leaders invited teams from ten regions of the country that were considered "high performing" to meet and discuss why residents in their areas received higher quality healthcare at a lower cost than the rest of the nation.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog

Nurse practitioners would play a key role if healthcare reform passes

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:33:00 GMT

If any sort of healthcare form passes this year, caring for the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will present a new set of challenges to the existing healthcare system, reports Time magazine. The nation may look to nurse practitioners, already part of the healthcare system, to step up and care for more patients. An existing primary care physician shortage coupled with this influx of new patients would create a need for primary caregivers—one that medical schools cannot currently meet. Only 10% of the graduating class of medical schools in 2008 indicated they were going into primary care.

Depending on state law, nurse practitioners can do many of the same things that physicians can do, and they are reimbursed at a rate of 80% of what physicians are reimbursed by Medicare, making their labor cheaper. Additionally, nurse practitioners are already practicing what seems to be a buzzword in healthcare today and a wave of the future—patient-centered care.

To read more from Time, click here.

Reducing rehospitalizations proves to be difficult and costly

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:39:00 GMT

Reducing rehospitalizations has become a national focus as health reform plays out. Readmissions are an easy target because they cost the nation's health system a lot and are often preventable. The Wall Street Journal, however, reports that many facilities that focus on preventing readmissions have often run out of funding for such programs because while the strategies may work, they are not reimbursed by any major health plan or the federal government. Additionally, hospitals are learning that preventing rehospitalization, especially for patients with specific diagnoses, is as much a matter of quality care in the hospital as it is encouraging patients to focus on healthy strategies once they have been discharged.

Some of the proposals for health reform include penalizing hospitals with poor rehospitalization rates. One proposal calls out withholding reimbursement for rehospitalized patients who suffered from a heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia. Another proposal would penalize hospitals in the top quartile for readmissions with specific conditions.

Patient safety-related cost savings not always easy to calculate

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:36:00 GMT

As hospitals face deeper payment cuts from the federal government, many are considering new methods to cut costs. Indeed, many hospitals have already cut staff members and scaled back existing expansion projects. President Obama has suggested penalizing hospitals for poor rehospitalization rates—those facilities that have higher rates of patients returning for care once they have been discharged.

Unsurprisingly, patient safety officers and quality improvement managers have had to talk the business talk more often this year, often being asked to make a sound financial argument for new quality initiatives.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

Hospital Compare Web site posts new quality data

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:13:00 GMT

The Hospital Quality Alliance announced last week the addition of new data available on the CMS Hospital Compare Web site. The general public, as well as the medical field can now log on and compare hospital readmission rates for Medicare patients suffering from a heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia. The data show readmissions within 30 days of discharge from any facility, even if patients do not return to the hospital from which they originally received care. This data, collected from Medicare billing records from July 2005 through June 2008, will provide consumers the ability to make a more educated decision about where they want to seek care.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.

The difficulties of moving to an electronic system: One hospital’s experience

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:31:00 GMT

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's electronic system is one of the best in the nation, reports Yahoo News/ The Associated Press. However, it took seven years of effort on the part of all staff members at that facility to get where it is today. Many facilities are now in a race against the clock to become paperless by 2014, the year the U.S. government has decided it wants all hospitals in the country to be on an electronic system. Currently about 1.5% of the nation's 6,000 hospitals can be considered fully electronic, reports Yahoo News/ The Associated Press.

Council, IOM outline comparative effectiveness research suggestions

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:19:00 GMT

Two key players in the world of healthcare issued their suggestions to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for what they consider priorities for comparative effectiveness research. The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research outlined which interventions and populations should receive part of the $400 million being made available to HHS for comparative effectiveness research as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on Monday. Similarly, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) offered its suggestions yesterday about national priorities to be addressed by comparative effectiveness research.

Click here to read more on the Patient Safety Monitor Blog.