The National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission have announced the 2013 recipients of the annual John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards.
This year's class will be honored for achievements such as prevention of more than 5,400 readmissions; a system-wide initiative to reduce medical errors; an adverse patient-safety event that catalyzed successful quality transformation; and one individuals' lifetime achievement in the field of patient safety and quality.
The four awards will be presented on Feb. 13, 2014, during a luncheon at the 2014 NQF Annual Conference and Membership Meeting in Washington.
[See also: Joint Commission releases its annual list of top performing hospitals.]
Launched in 2002 by NQF and The Joint Commission, the patient safety awards program honors John M. Eisenberg, MD, former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and former member of the founding board of directors of NQF.
The four honorees are:
Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level
Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement in Bloomington, Minn., Minnesota Hospital Association in St. Paul, Minn., and Stratis Health in Bloomington, Minn.
The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement was recognized for its Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively Campaign. The RARE Campaign is a large-scale healthcare change initiative engaging hospitals and care providers in Minnesota across the continuum of care to prevent 6,000 avoidable readmissions, help people sleep in their own beds instead of the hospital and save millions of dollars in healthcare expenses. The 82 hospitals participating in the RARE campaign account for more than 85 percent of the annual statewide hospital readmissions and to date have prevented 5,441 readmissions over a two-year period. Participating hospitals receive intensive support including technical assistance and best practice tools to aid in redesigning their care processes to achieve readmission reduction goals.
Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level
Anthem Blue Cross in Woodland Hills, Calif., National Health Foundation in Los Angeles, Hospital Association of Southern California in Los Angeles, Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties in San Diego and the Hospital Council of Northern & Central California in Sacramento, Calif.
These organizations were recognized for their initiative, Patient Safety First ... a California Partnership for Health. Launched in 2010, it convened stakeholders from different geographic regions across the Golden State to improve quality of care provided to Californians, save lives by targeting zero avoidable medical errors, and reduce healthcare costs to allow for reinvestment into the system. Anthem Blue Cross contributed $6 million over three years to support the initiative, collaborating with three regional hospital associations representing 95 percent of all California hospitals and the National Health Foundation.
Its goals included driving improvement in perinatal care, sepsis and hospital acquired infections. The initiative leveraged peer‐to‐peer regional learning networks to accelerate adoption of best practices and strategies for improvement. Initial results showed that 182 hospitals were engaged, and more than 3,500 lives and $63 million have been saved. Building upon these successes, Anthem invested another $1.8 million to roll out the next phase of the collaborative in 2013.
[See also: NQF endorses measures to increase use of electronic health data.]
Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level
Vidant Health, Greenville, N.C.
Vidant Health was recognized for its system-wide quality transformation focused on patient safety training following a serious blood event that resulted in a patient death in 2006. In response to this incident, Vidant outlined a series of interventions to improve patient safety that included board literacy in quality, an aggressive transparency policy, patient-family partnerships and leader and physician engagement. Implementation of specific tactics associated with each approach occurred in the ensuing years. The transformation of the system has resulted in an 83 percent reduction in serious safety events, 62 percent reduction in hospital acquired infections, 98 percent optimal care in the CMS "core measures," HCAHPS performance in the top 20 percent and more than 150 patient advisors partnering with leaders, physicians, and front line staff in safety and quality work.
Individual Achievement
Gail L. Warden, president emeritus of Henry Ford Health System, Detroit
Warden was lauded by NQF and the Joint Commission for his work to improve and assure the well-being of hospitalized patients. He oversaw the creation of the Henry Ford Health System, now the second largest health system in Michigan and an institution nationally known for its quality patient care, bench-to-bedside research and outstanding education program. Among his accomplishments, he served on an Institute of Medicine committee that issued two groundbreaking reports that prompted healthcare organizations nationwide to identify and fix medical errors to minimize patient risk, and strive to achieve "perfect" healthcare.
"The achievements of this year's Eisenberg Award recipients are exemplary," says Mark R. Chassin, MD president and CEO, The Joint Commission, in a press statement. "Their tireless dedication to making their organizations and the healthcare industry safer for patients, saving lives, and decreasing costs deserves to be applauded."
"We congratulate this year's Eisenberg Award recipients for the tremendous strides they have taken toward improving the patient experience by making care safer," said Christine Cassel, MD, president and chief executive officer of NQF, in a statement. "Our winners exemplify the nation's quality movement and underscore the vital importance of our work at the National Quality Forum to foster the best thinking to improve healthcare quality and patient safety through measurement."
