Quality Counts Blog

Did You Know?

Teams focused on quality improvement are making a difference at Newport Hospital and Health Services!

Using the Triple Aim of healthcare as their guide, teams are working to:T. Aim

1)      Improve the health of communities and populations

2)      Lower the cost of healthcare, to the patient, to the hospital, to insurers

3)      Provide better, safer care to patients and their families

Readmission Quality Team Lowering Costs

Did you know that a readmission costs an average of $12,000 to treat?  Newport Hospital has reduced All-Cause Medicare Readmissions by 25% from 2012 thru 2015.  In 2012, the hospital’s readmission rate was 16.1%.  In 2015, our readmission rate declined to 12.3%.  Meanwhile, the national rate has risen by 17% over that same time period.  But the impact of readmissions is much more than financial.  There is a huge physical, mental, and emotional toll on the patient and their family/support system when another hospital stay is required within 30 days of original discharge.  The Readmission Quality Team meets monthly to review case histories of readmitted patients so that causes and trends can be understood and counter-measured.  The team credits Newport Hospital’s successful readmission reduction effort to four things:  1)   A wonderful hospital care team,   2) Solid discharge planning, 3) Implementation of Case Management , and 4) Excellent nurse-to-patient education.

Surgical Site Infection Quality Team Provides Better Care

Did you know that the Newport Hospital surgical team has tons of satisfied patients?  98% patient satisfaction in 2016! The team has applied for a grant to help reduce post-surgical MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) infections, which have been our most serious and costly infections from 2012 – 2015.  In 2016, our surgery suite has gone 6 months in a row without a post-op surgical infection.

Infection Prevention Committee Improves Community Health

A subset of the Infection Prevention Committee is working on making sure our patients are always offered flu and pneumonia vaccines appropriately, according to standard order sets.  Nationwide, hospitals are hitting upwards of 98% of flu and pneumonia vaccines offered according to protocol.  Newport Hospital has improved vaccine offer rates from 67% (flu) and 67% (pneumonia) in 2014, to 90% (flu) and 100% (pneumonia).  This is truly excellent improvement.  Appropriately vaccinated patients are less likely to return to the hospital with flu and/or pneumonia.  Our Long Term Care Unit sets an excellent example and something to aim for with their current flu and pneumonia vaccination offer rates of 100% on both vaccines.

Quality statistics really show what efficient, speedy processes can do to help our patients.

Until next time,

Heidi
 
Heidi Hedlund, Quality Blog
Heidi Hedlund, Quality Blog