Quality & Patient Safety
This year’s winner of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the health care category, Charleston (W.Va.) Area Medical Center Health System is the largest nongovernmental employer in its region, and is an important regional…
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. These two programs (including state funding) represent 37 cents of every dollar spent on health care in the United States. There are more than 54 million Medicare beneficiaries and 64 million Americans on Medicaid.
As one of the…
Trustee Talking Points
Trustee Talking Points
Sepsis is a leading cause of death and the most expensive condition treated in hospitals.
Nearly half of patients who die in the hospital have sepsis.
Many hospitals have given sepsis control less attention than other types of patient harm.…
Hospitals are making “substantial progress in improving safety,” according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report that found a 17 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014. That saved 87,000 lives and nearly $20 billion in health costs. HACs include adverse…
The number of new cases of diabetes diagnosed in the United States declined significantly from 2009 to 2014 after steadily rising for 25 years, according to data released in December by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The country recorded 1.4 million new cases in 2014, down from 1.7…
The American Hospital Association last month awarded its 2015 Shirley Ann Munroe Leadership Award to Vince Oliver, CEO and superintendent of Island Hospital in Anacortes, Wash. The award honors small or rural hospital leaders who have improved health care delivery in their communities through…
Misprescribed in Pediatrics
50%: An estimated half of antibiotic prescriptions given during pediatric office visits are inappropriate.
Source: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, Aug. 20, 2015
• Patient experience is growing in importance as a performance measure for hospitals, especially as patients become more savvy health care consumers. • Medicare holds back part of its reimbursement, and doesn’t pay it back until the end of a payment period, based partly on HCAHPS…
Health care executives and boards no longer can lead with only one organization in mind. Value-based payment, along with a renewed emphasis on developing healthy communities, makes care coordination among community providers in multiple entities a necessity.
Hospitals and health systems are extending their efforts to embrace environmental sustainability, especially when it comes to energy consumption, according to the 2015 Health Facilities Management Sustainable Operations Survey conducted with the American Society for Healthcare Engineering and the…