HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from December 2003

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from December 2003

Data interpretation hinges on the rationale for benchmarking project: art of benchmarking requires flexibility, keen judgment.
December 1, 2003... Vast strides are being made in data collection methodology, and access to the same resources will help increase the commonality among benchmarking facilities. Nevertheless, benchmarking professionals argue, the practice of benchmarking is as...

Injuries in hospitals pose threat to patients: longer LOS, higher number of deaths seen.
December 1, 2003... Medical injuries during hospitalization resulted in longer hospital stays, higher costs, and a higher number of deaths in 2000, according to a study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, MD. The study, Excess...

SSM slashes LOS almost 2 days in just 2 weeks: 'consistence, insistence, and persistence' are keys.
December 1, 2003... Reducing patient length of stay (LOS) from nearly seven days to the regional average of 5.5 days usually takes two years, according to the Health Care Advisory Board in Washington, DC, a nationally recognized organization that provides best...

Patient flow product taps hidden capacity: up to 20% increase in bed capacity possible.
December 1, 2003... Capacity limits and bed shortages lead to difficult decisions for hospital administrators, including whether to cancel surgeries, build new facilities, add staff, or continue to divert patients to other hospitals. Yet, according to...

Fundraising software bolsters efficiency: more effective management of donor database.
December 1, 2003... The RWJ University Hospital Foundation Inc. has improved the efficiency of its fundraising operations by switching to new software that allows more effective management of its donor database. The foundation is the fundraising organization...

Hospital CAM services are on the rise.
December 1, 2003... The proportion of hospitals offering complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services increased by 0.8 percentage points in 2002, according to the 2003-2004 edition of the AHA Guide. About 16.5% of the 4,756 hospitals that answered the...