/ en Sun, 27 Apr 2025 12:02:19 -0500 Thu, 06 Jan 22 15:02:13 -0600 /node/681453 <p>This pamphlet is an example of an active DEI initiative at a health organization. They clearly define diversity and inclusion, why it's important, outlining their mission and explaining what they do, and identifying their leaders and members. Most importantly, they indicate how they should be percieved in the community and in the hospital so they may be held accountable.</p> Thu, 06 Jan 2022 15:02:13 -0600 State Government /case-studies/2015-10-06-iha-2015-quality-awards <p><a href="http:/www.ihatoday.org/IHA-Institute/Awards.aspx" target="_blank">Sinai Health System, Chicago</a>, “Helping Adults Breathe and Thrive: A Healthy Homes Approach to Improving Respiratory Health of Adults with Asthma.” In one year, the program reduced asthma-related emergency department visits by 66 PERCENT, hospitalizations by 57 percent and participants' daytime asthma symptoms by 67 percent.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ihatoday.org/IHA-Institute/Awards.aspx" target="_blank">HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital, Highland</a>, “Patient-Centered Approach to Reducing Readmissions.” By improving their care coordination and expanding their multidisciplinary team approach to discharge planning, the hospital successfully reduced their readmission rates by 20 percent in the past two years.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ihatoday.org/IHA-Institute/Awards.aspx" target="_blank">Presence Saint Joseph Hospital, Elgin</a>, for “Decreasing Venous ThromboembolismRate and Length of Stay for Total Joint Patients through an Interdisciplinary Orthopedic Co-management Collaborative.” New care guidelines and an early mobility program reduced acquired VTE rates by 87 percent. Efforts decreased hospital LOS by 65 percent for total joint patients and 46 percent for total knees.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ihatoday.org/IHA-Institute/Awards.aspx" target="_blank">HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Belleville</a>, “Eliminating Medically Unnecessary Blood Transfusions at a Community Teaching Hospital.” By building new guidelines into the hospital's electronic health record, blood usage decreased by 30 percent. This new process is being implemented across the 13-hospital system.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ihatoday.org/IHA-Institute/Awards.aspx" target="_blank">AMITA Health, Arlington Heights</a>, received the Tim Philipp Award for Excellence in Palliative Care for its efforts to “Increase Penetration of Appropriate Palliative Care Consultation in a Health System.” In a year's time, consultations increased more than 20 percent.</p> Tue, 06 Oct 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /case-studies/2015-09-01-change-culture-increase-wellness <p>In order to develop a durable systemic change, one Keene, N.H., program is making the healthy choice the easy choice. <a href="http://tanlhealthyeatingprogram.weebly.com" target="_blank">Turn a New Leaf</a>, part of <a href="http://www.healthymonadnock.org" target="_blank">Healthy Monadnock 2020</a> and in cooperation with Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock-Keene, provides organizations with the tools, technical assistance and resources to support healthy choices.The program partners with restaurants and food venues to make it easier to identify the healthy choice when dining out. Menu items are evaluated by six criteria, such as saturated fat levels and calories, and then branded with a logo.</p> <p><a href="http://tanlhealthyeatingprogram.weebly.com" target="_blank">The initiative guides</a> restaurant patrons to healthier menu options with a simple, colorful logo of a red heart and green elm leaf. Using nutritional criteria, developed by graduate students of Keene State College's Dietetic Internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines, the logo identifies the meals that are healthy, healthier and healthiest on a restaurant's menu.Further, its community worksite wellness program uses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Worksite Health ScoreCard as a way to bring education and awareness to employers regarding employee health. Technical assistance and resources are available for policy development, implementation strategies and evaluation.</p> <p>The program goals are:</p> <ul> <li>Create healthy eating environments within the Monadnock region by assisting local partners who highlight, identify and promote healthier menu items.</li> <li>Create consistent, credible and easily recognized nutritional guidance for consumers.</li> <li>Increase consumer demand for healthy items prepared or eaten away from home with marketing tools and local promotions.</li> </ul> <p>Monadnock HEAL Coordinator, Maryanne Keating offer advice to others considering such a program. She says:</p> <ul> <li>Changing the culture takes time. By providing organizations with the tools, technical assistance and resources to support the interventions, we can create positive changes that support the health and well-being of our community.</li> <li>Engage worksites and food venues to adopt, implement and promote policies, systems and environmental changes that enhance known health outcomes.</li> </ul> <p>For further information, contact: Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock-Keene Keene, N.H., Maryanne Keating, Monadnock HEAL Coordinator, (603) 354-5454, extension 2369</p> <p>Healthy Mondadnock was also featured in the Robert Wood Johnson-supported white paper, “Hospital-based Strategies for Creating a Culture of Health.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.healthymonadnock.org" target="_blank">About Healthy Monadnock</a></p> <p>Healthy Monadnock 2020 is a community engagement initiative designed to foster and sustain a positive culture of health throughout Cheshire County and the Monadnock region. Founded and developed by the <a href="http://http/www.cheshire-med.com/index.html">Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene</a> in 2007, Healthy Monadnock 2020's action plans are being guided in the community by the Healthiest Community Advisory Board, a group of 30 individuals representing schools, organizations, coalitions and businesses. Currently our partners are implementing action strategies designed to improve quality of life and prevent the leading causes of death for everyone.</p> <p>About the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/pubs/worksite_scorecard.htm" target="_blank">CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard</a></p> <p>The CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard is a tool designed to help employers assess the extent they have implemented evidence-based health promotion interventions in their worksites. It identifies gaps in health promotion programs and helps them to prioritize high-impact strategies including: organizational supports, tobacco control, nutrition, physical activity, weight management, stress management, depression, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke and emergency response to heart attack and stroke.</p> Tue, 01 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /magazinenewspaper/2015-08-10-2015-most-wired <p>This year's winners of Health Care's Most Wired Survey are employing information technology to help they achieve the Triple Aim of health care. These hosptials ensure their application of HIT is driving value, connecting patients and physicians and even moving outside of the hospital's four walls. More than 2,213 hospitals (39 percent of all U.S. hospitals) participated in the benchmarking survey, which is now in its 17th year. Based on the criteria, 338 organziations achieved the Most Wired designation, a 10 percent decrease from 2014 due to additional requirements. </p> <p>According to the article, one stand out is in patient engagement, which can partially be attributed to Stage 2 requirements of meaningful use regulations, but something more. The survey shows that more than two-thirds of Most Wired hospitals are providing and enagaging patients and families via the Internet to learn more about their conditions. The more sophisticated are even providng e-visits with care teams. </p> <p>Read the entire article by clicking 'view item' below.</p> Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /guidesreports/2015-07-06-health-it-enabled-quality-improvement <p>The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology coordinates nationwide efforts that support the use of certified health IT and promote the adoption of national standards and the interoperable exchange of health information. Through the recent efforts of federal programs that spur health IT adoption such as the regional extension Center, Beacon Communities, state health information exchange and the electronic health record incentive programs, the nation has reached the “tipping point” for health IT adoption in the provider and hospital environments. As we move forward, leveraging health IT adoption and improving the exchange of health information through the use of health IT will be integral to supporting the essential building blocks of a quality improvement ecosystem. The main goals of health IT adoption are to achieve improved health and health care quality, safety, and communication among all members of the care team while decreasing costs and increasing value. These goals reflect the U.S Department of Health and Human Services' national quality strategy, which describes implementation plans to achieve better care, healthy communities and affordable care.</p> Mon, 06 Jul 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /guidesreports/2015-07-01-institute-healthcare-improvement-white-papers <p>This series focuses on the IHI's main topic areas of:</p> <ul> <li>Improvement Capability</li> <li>Person- and Family-centered Care</li> <li>Patient Safety</li> <li>Quality, Cost and Value</li> <li>Triple Aim for Populations</li> </ul> Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /journal-articles/2015-07-01-pursuing-triple-aim <p><a href="http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Publications/PursuingTripleAimFirstSevenYears.aspx" target="_blank">View the accompanying video from IHI</a></p> <p>See more resources on achieving the Triple Aim:</p> <ul> <li><a href="../../resources/hpoe-live-webinars/1383">Triple Aim Strategies to Integrate Behavioral Health in Primary Care</a></li> <li><a href="../../resources/hpoe-live-webinars/1660">Strategically Pursuing the IHI Triple Aim</a></li> <li><a href="//C:/Users/jtowne/Downloads/IHA%20Quality%20St%20Marys%20Hospital--TripleAim.pdf">Achieving the Triple Aim: Leveraging and Learning from Top Performers to Accelerate Improvements</a></li> <li><a href="../../resources/chair-files/1659">Best Practices for Patient and Family Engagement</a></li> </ul> Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /case-studies/2015-06-10-90-minute-performance-improvement-team <p>After learning of the '90 minute' standard of care for providing definitive treatment for cardiac patients, the team was charged with making recommendations to reach the '90 minute' goal. Records from 2006 found that in some instances it took as long as 7.5 hours to get patients from the emergency department door to the cardiac care center door.</p> <p>The hospital examined ED arrival times, ECG and EKG times, ED to Cath Labs transfer times and balloon times to develop strategies to reduce the timeframes and improve care for both ground and helicopter EMS transports.</p> <p>Through continued process improvement, the team improved the door-to-balloon time to an average of 115 minutes in 2012 with a best time of 34 minutes. Their record for ED door-to-balloon time (or total perfusion time) is 106 minutes traveling by ground and 107 minutes traveling by air. Work continues to meet the 90-minute goal.</p> <p>This case study is part of the <a href='http://www.ihatoday.org/iha-institute/awards.aspx'>Illinois Hospital Association's annual quality awards</a>. Each year, IHA recognizes and celebrates the achievements of Illinois hospitals in continually improving and transforming health care in the state. These hospitals are improving health by striving to achieve the <a href='http://www.ihi.org/engage/initiatives/TripleAim/Pages/default.aspx'>Triple Aim</a>--improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction); improving the health of populations; and reducing the per capita cost of health care.</p> <p>Award recipients achieve measurable and meaningful progress in providing care that is:</p> <ul> <li>Safe</li> <li>Timely</li> <li>Effective</li> <li>Efficient</li> <li>Equitable</li> <li>Patient-centered</li> </ul> <p><a href='http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2001/Crossing-the-Quality-Chasm/Quality%20Chasm%202001%20%20report%20brief.pdf'>(The Institute of Medicine's six aims for improvement.)</a></p> Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /guidesreports/2015-06-03-integrated-leadership-hospitals-and-health-systems <p>The AHA and the American Medical Association collaborated on this paper to present both physicians and hospital leaders a set of guiding principles for integration. Those six principles are:</p> <p>Physician and hospital leaders with similar values and expectations aligned financial and non-financial incentives goals aligned across the board with appropriate metrics, shared responsibility for financial, cost and quality targets.</p> <p>An interdisciplinary structure that supports collaboration in decision-making between physicians and hospital executives. It is important that physicians preserve the clinical autonomy needed for quality patient care while working with others to deliver effective, efficient and appropriate care.</p> <p>Integrated clinical physician and hospital leadership, including nursing and other clinicians, present at all levels of the integrated health system and participation in all key management decisions.</p> <p>A collaborative, participatory partnership built on trust. This sense of interdependence and working towards mutual achievement of the Triple Aim is crucial to alignment and engagement. It is important for physicians and hospital leadership to trust in each other's good faith and abilities.</p> <p>Open and transparent sharing of clinical and business information across the continuum by all parties to improve care.</p> <p>A clinical information system infrastructure that allows capture and reporting of key clinical quality and efficiency performance data for all participants and accountability across the system to those measures.</p> Wed, 03 Jun 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government /magazinenewspaper/2015-03-10-collaborating-communities-redefine-hospital <p>This article from Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the ���������� Association, details the report from the 2014 committee on research. Among other point, the authors highlight the following:</p> <p>Far from being insulated to the challenges and opportunities associated with change and transformation, hospitals and health care systems should consider new ways to engage with communities and assess how changes in the health care delivery system will affect patients and consumers. Hospitals should be redefined in a manner that positively impacts the overall health of a community and is supported by the community.</p> <p><br />The AHA believes that changes as significant as those likely to occur in the coming decade need to be planned for, not only within the hospitals, but also with strong input and engagement from the local community. In 2014, the AHA Committee on Research and the Committee on Performance Improvement focused on how hospitals can engage with community stakeholders to discuss the changing health care landscape. The committees also examined how hospitals can educate and engage leaders at the governance level — those who can help to navigate new payment models, delivery system reforms and community health challenges.</p> <p><br />The Leadership Toolkit includes a report plus several tools and resources that address community engagement and governance strategies for hospital leaders.</p> Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:00:00 -0500 State Government