HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from September 2005

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from September 2005

Collaboratives grow, even among traditional health care competitors: rivals become allies in search for new ways to improve quality.
September 1, 2005... Something's happening in the world of quality improvement that might not have been thought possible 10 years ago. In ever-growing numbers, hospitals that once thought of each other only as competitors are joining forces to attack the major...

Hospitals collaborate to reduce surgical infections: QIO-led program cuts rate 27% in one year.(quality improvement organizations)
September 1, 2005... Fifty-six hospitals from 50 states and U.S. territories, collaborating to improve surgical care, significantly cut the rate of surgical infections for more than 35,000 patients in a yearlong, nationwide effort sponsored by the federal Centers...

Early '100,000 Lives' participant sees benefits: facility sees dramatic reductions in ventilator use.(hospital quality management campaign)
September 1, 2005... One of the better known ongoing collaborations in the United States is the Cambridge, MA-based institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) "100,000 Lives Campaign," whose goal is to save 100,000 lives through targeted QI interventions by June...

Proactive staff help avert patient safety crisis in OR: hydraulic fluid in barrels labeled 'Klenzyme'.(Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center)
September 1, 2005... A group of alert instrument technicians at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, averted disaster when they discovered that several barrels of liquid labeled "Klenzyme" turned out, in fact, to contain hydraulic...

Study: poor performers have best improvement: significant improvement for 15 of 18 measures.
September 1, 2005... A new study by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) on hospital performance between 2002 and 2004 showed that hospitals with a low level of performance at baseline had greater improvements over the two-year...

AHRQ begins first phase of intervention reviews: evidence to be made available to decision makers.(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
September 1, 2005... The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, MD, has begun the first phase of research reviews that will be performed under its new Effective Health Care Program. The program...

President signs patient safety bill.(Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... On July 29, President Bush signed into law The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, which will create legal and confidentiality protections for patient safety information that providers share for educational purposes, and create...

CMS gives Congress a quality roadmap.(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS) has presented congressional committees with jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid with a roadmap for improving the nation's health care quality. The agency's five-point plan calls for close...

Hospital charges reported.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Charges for U.S. hospitals stays totaled nearly $754 billion in 2003, according to just-released national data from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The charges, which do not include physician fees, were for...