HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from August 2007

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from August 2007

CMS unveils proposed list of 'no-payment' conditions; observers say greatest impact will be on coding and documentation.
August 1, 2007... As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began unveiling the details of is value-based purchasing plan (see the cover story in the July 2007 issue of HBQI), knowledgeable observers were waiting for the "other shoe" to drop. Well,...

Study casts new doubt on effectiveness of P4P; study in JAMA compares two groups of hospitals.
August 1, 2007... Does a pay-for-performance (P4P) approach to quality improvement really work? A new study in the June 6 issue of JAMA raises some serious questions as to whether it provides a superior incentive for hospitals to improve their performance. (1)...

Health systems form 'Safest Hospital Alliance'; all member hospitals will follow the same template.
August 1, 2007... Three health care systems--Wellmont Health System, based in Kingsport, TN; Novant Health, based in Winston-Salem, NC; and Adventist Health System, based in Winter Park, FL--have come together to seek a solution to improving patient safety....

Telehealth helps hospital cut readmissions by 75%; new approach to heart failure saves money.
August 1, 2007... Fuqua Heart Center of Atlanta (GA) at Piedmont Hospital has used telehealth technology to significantly reduce the rate of hospital readmissions for heart failure patients. Data collected by the facility show that hospital readmission 30 days...

Mass General makes its survey findings public; openness helps ensure performance improvement.
August 1, 2007... Why would a major, high-visibility facility like Boston s Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) willingly share the findings of its final accreditation report from The Joint Commission--especially when the findings were not entirely positive?...

Journal focuses on surgical QI, measurement.
August 1, 2007... The Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS) devoted its June 2007 issue to a quality measurement program called the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). ACS NSQIP tracks the outcomes...

AONE taps 68 hospitals to improve patient care.
August 1, 2007... The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) has selected 68 hospitals to participate in a two-year project to improve patient care. The project will disseminate tools to help hospitals redesign care delivery processes based on lessons...

Working conditions for ICU nurses linked to infections.
August 1, 2007... Hospitals that have better working conditions for nurses are safer for elderly intensive care unit (ICU) patients, according to a recent report by Columbia University School of Nursing researchers who measured rates of hospital-associated...