HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from November 2006

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from November 2006

HHS opens doors to greater interoperability of EMRs: decision will help facilitate physician office/hospital communication.
November 1, 2006... Thanks to a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), physicians will be allowed to accept donations of electronic prescribing software, electronic health records software, and training services from hospitals...

ICU uses 'bundles' to make huge improvements: initiatives spurred by IHI collaborative.
November 1, 2006... The ICU at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Desoto, MS, has reduced its rate of ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAPs) from 7.6% to 0.73%, has had only three in the last 24 months, and at one point went 14 months without any. Its urinary tract...

Staff education, 'tough love' key to RRT success: also, the ability to adapt program over time.
November 1, 2006... The intensive care unit at University Hospitals Health System Richmond Heights (OH) Hospital, has achieved impressive results since its rapid response team went live in late April 2005. "We have shown huge improvements; we are so, so...

Med students can aid in safety improvement: report: they can help prevent adverse events.
November 1, 2006... Medical students are often overlooked as valuable participants in ensuring patient safety, assert the authors of a paper published recently in Quality and Safety in Healthcare. (1) However, citing four cases from two U.S. academic health...

ACE aims to help lower performing facilities: focus is on seven core heart care measures.
November 1, 2006... Hospital CEOs and administrators from the lowest performance quartile on seven core heart care measures targeted by the Alliance for Cardiac Excellence (ACE) recently have been receiving letters and information on resources available to help...

'Ideal Patient Day' gives heads-up on care: schedule serves patient, not just staff.
November 1, 2006... When Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare looked at improving patient throughput, one of the issues that surfaced had to do with housekeeping, which historically had deployed its work force in a way that did not serve the facility, says Matthew J....

IOM recommends phased-in Medicare P4P system.
November 1, 2006... In a just-released report, the Institute of Medicine urged the Department of Health and Human Services to gradually replace the current fee-for-service Medicare program with a new pay-for-performance system for reimbursing participating health...

CMS announces preventive care project.
November 1, 2006... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a solicitation to implement a health promotion and disease prevention program through the Medicare Senior Risk Reduction Demonstration. The program enhances CMS' focus on prevention...

UMICH launches flu pandemic site.
November 1, 2006... Examining how communities in the United States coped with the 1918 flu pandemic could help public health planners in their preparations for the next flu pandemic, according to the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan...