The results are in after a three-year campaign to prevent harm and reduce re admissions for hospital patients across the nation, and participating Indiana hospitals such as Daviess Community Hospital are showing significant progress.
From 2012-2014, 116 Indiana hospitals partnered with the Indiana Hospital Association (IHA) in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS)Partnership for Patients campaign. Guided by the American Hospital Association and Health Research & Educational Trust’s Hospital Engagement Network, thegoal was to make care safer by decreasing hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and reducing hospital readmissions by 20 percent.
Participating hospitals worked to improve care in 11 core patient safety areas of focus, such as early elective deliveries and pressure ulcers. Staff participated in educational meetings and trainings to increase improvement capacity and provided data tracking and reporting for each topic to encourage further awareness and monitoring.
Daviess Community Hospital confirmed 74 harms were prevented, resulting in an estimated $82,678.00 in health care cost savings during the three-year period.
The three-year period of the Partnership for Patients campaign also produced significant improvement by Daviess Community Hospital to reduce early elective deliveries, which can put mothers and babies at risk. By prohibiting the scheduling of early elective deliveries (EED) before 39 weeks, hospitals in Indiana reduced EEDs by 76 percent, and more than 50 birthing hospitals were recognized by IHA and the March of Dimes. Daviess Community Hospital reduced its own early elective deliveries by 100% percent.
“DCH has always strived to put patients and their safety first and we will continue to do that,” said Dr. Jonathan Frances, OB/GYN. “We are proud of the hard work and dedication of all the nurses and staff to accomplish this goal.”
“When it comes to patient safety, Indiana hospitals don’t compete with one another – they collaborate to share best practices, address regional needs and work together on quality improvements for the sake of their patients and the communities they serve,” said Doug Leonard, president of IHA. “We are extremely proud of the results achieved during the Partnership for Patients campaign that highlight the tremendous accomplishments of our hospitals and reflect leadership commitment to quality and patient safety.”
“These outstanding improvements are a direct result of the excellent work our dedicated team,” stated David Bixler, CEO. “We are committed to doing what is in the best interest of each patient, and these results confirm our commitment to every patient, every time.”