/ en Fri, 25 Apr 2025 16:17:19 -0500 Tue, 22 Apr 25 06:00:00 -0500 /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2025-04-22-rapidly-advancing-multiagent-ai-apps-could-reshape-operations-efficiency <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Rapidly-Advancing-Multiagent-AI-Apps-Could-Reshape-Operations-Efficiency.png" data-entity-uuid="78a574f0-a506-4bf8-bce7-bcc34cf956e7" data-entity-type="file" alt="Rapidly Advancing Multiagent AI Apps Could Reshape Operations Efficiency. Artificial Intelligence (AI) head surrounded by medical icons." width="1200" height="677"><p>Early adopters in health care have begun to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI) advancements by moving from chatbots to single-agent and multiagent systems working across multiple functions.</p><p>AI agents hold transformative potential to accelerate the evolution of health care by augmenting decision-making, personalizing care and automating repetitive tasks, Biju Samkutty, chief operating officer of international and enterprise automation at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, recently noted in an <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/ai/healthcare-enters-ai-agent-era/" target="_blank" title="Becker's Hospital Review: Healthcare enters AI agent era">interview</a>.</p><p>These agents can analyze large amounts of patient data, including medical histories, imaging and genetic profiles, to provide clinicians with real-time, evidence-based insights.</p><p>Beyond clinical applications, AI agents can optimize health care operations, improving efficiency and accessibility. Google Cloud, for example, recently launched a couple of <a href="https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/build-and-manage-multi-system-agents-with-vertex-ai?e=48754805" target="_blank" title="Google Cloud: Vertex AI offers new ways to build and manage multi-agent systems">new tools</a> and services in its Vertex AI platform. The launches include an agent development kit and Agent2Agent protocol that enable a multiagent ecosystem. Google's cloud division also unveiled enhancements to Agentspace, a platform announced in December that provides AI-enabled search capabilities and agents to enterprise customers.</p><p>The tech giant also announced its Agent Garden, a hub where organizations can access pre-built AI agents.</p><p>AI purpose-built agents are rapidly advancing, Aashima Gupta, global director of health care strategy and solutions at Google Cloud, recently told Fierce Healthcare.</p><p>Google sees AI agents as intelligent collaborators that can streamline operations, increase efficiency and improve patient care. Multiagent AI systems are seen as the next frontier in health care.</p><p>Even as many providers are still honing their AI strategies, Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey is implementing AI agents and search tools to cut the time spent on administrative tasks, simplify workflows and improve patient care.</p><p>Hackensack Meridian foresees using agents to improve the patient scheduling experience, though the system isn’t fully there yet, Sameer Sethi, the health system’s chief AI and insights officer, noted in a <a href="https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/google-cloud-ai-agentic-tools/744902/" title="Heathcare Dive: Google Cloud expands AI agent tools for healthcare" target="">Healthcare Dive interview</a>.</p><p>He envisions agents managing complex scheduling situations, such as when a patient needs an appointment with an orthopedic doctor, a ride to the office, an available wheelchair or assistance picking up medications. While the health system offers those services, it typically would take separate calls to arrange them — while agents could collaborate to handle those requests.</p><p>“That is how we think about agentic space,” Sethi says. “We are orchestrating different activities and different technologies to all work together.”</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" width="721" height="130" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } h2 { color: #9d2235; } Tue, 22 Apr 2025 06:00:00 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /center/living-learning-network/ahas-quality-exchange Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:30:00 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2025-03-25-top-4-takeaways-new-aha-safety-insights-report <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Top-4-Takeaways-from-New-AHA-Safety-Insights-Report.png" data-entity-uuid="0033e72b-2c55-4754-ac0a-facda1a20ca4" data-entity-type="file" alt="Top 4 Takeaways from New AHA Safety Insights Report. The cover of the AHA "Insights Report: Improvement in the Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes" overlayed on an image of a surgery being performed by four clinicians." width="1200" height="677"><p>Over the past six months, the AHA and its data partners have produced two comprehensive reports that document the progress hospitals and health systems continue to make on key patient safety measures.</p><p>In September 2024, the AHA partnered with Vizient on a <a href="/guidesreports/2024-09-12-new-analysis-shows-hospitals-performance-key-patient-safety-measures-surpassing-pre-pandemic-levels">report</a> showing that numerous outcome measures of health care quality and patient safety — including decreasing risk of mortality and lower levels of health care-associated infections — are improving while hospitals care for more patients with significant health needs.</p><p>Meanwhile, the newly released Insights Report, <a href="/guidesreports/2025-03-11-improvement-safety-culture-linked-better-patient-and-staff-outcomes">“Improvement in Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes,”</a> highlights progress on additional outcome measures of patient safety including some that reflect the ongoing work led by nurses to protect patients.</p><p>The latest report, created in collaboration between the AHA and Press Ganey, shows clear improvement on the experience of both patients and the health care workforce. It also shows improvements in safety culture, a leading indicator of better safety outcomes and better experiences for patients and staff.</p><h2>4 Takeaways from the New Data</h2><h3><span>1</span> <span>|</span> 4 key quality and safety areas are improving.</h3><p>Hospitals are performing at or better than prepandemic levels on multiple quality and safety measures, according to the March report. The findings are based on the Press Ganey National Database Quality Indicators reflecting quality measures reported by more than 25,000 units across 2,430 acute care inpatient hospitals. The data show improvements from their mid-pandemic levels in four key measurement areas:</p><ul><li>Catheter-associated urinary tract infections</li><li>Central line-associated bloodstream infections.</li><li>Patient falls that result in harm.</li><li>The number of patients who develop hospital-acquired pressure injuries such as bedsores.</li></ul><h3><span>2</span> <span>|</span> Patient experience and safety improvements are being noticed.</h3><p>The report’s data, based on responses from 13 million patients, show steady gains in their experience of care and their perceived safety of care after a drop during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers of these improvements include patient perception of good teamwork among staff, attention and responsiveness to patient needs and communication among patients and clinical care team members.</p><h3><span>3</span> <span>|</span> Patients are attuned to team dynamics and interpersonal competencies.</h3><p>One key factor driving improvements in patients’ perceptions of care is the teamwork of their caregivers. Across clinical areas — inpatient and outpatient, surgical and medical, emergency and scheduled — the single largest driver of a patient’s likelihood to recommend a hospital, facility or provider is the perception of how well their care team members work together, the report notes. Better teamwork has long been shown to drive better outcomes.</p><p>Similarly, patients who perceive that their care was safe are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to recommend their hospital to others. Their perceptions of safety are based on their own interactions with hospital team members, their observations regarding practices such as handwashing and cleanliness, and how they see team members interacting with one another to deliver care.</p><h3><span>4</span> <span>|</span> Workforce experience and well-being are improving.</h3><p>As the enormous strain of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the health care workforce is beginning to rebound as well. Press Ganey data from 1.7 million health care workforce members show a rise in their resiliency and perceived work experiences. A resilient workforce is essential in health care, given the complex and high stakes nature of the work.</p><p>Hospitals that score higher on team member engagement surveys also see higher patient experience scores reported from patients. This correlation is becoming more pronounced every year, with the top-performing quartile of hospitals on staff engagement in 2023 scoring in the 80th percentile on patients’ likelihood to recommend.</p><hr><h2>Learn More</h2><p>A key goal of the <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative">AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative</a> is to help hospitals and health systems improve their safety culture. Launched in 2023, the initiative catalyzes hospitals’ and health systems’ collective expertise and momentum for improvement and focuses on (1) safety culture, (2) identifying and addressing disparities in health care outcomes and (3) the workforce’s well-being.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" width="721" height="130" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } h2 { color: #9d2235; } Tue, 25 Mar 2025 06:15:00 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /aha-patient-safety-initiative/us-hospitals-and-health-systems-enhance-patient-safety <div class="row"><div class="col-md-10 col-md-offset-1"> .PSIStates { background-color:; float:left } .PSIStates{ overflow:auto; } .PSIStates h2 { text-align: center; text-transform:uppercase; border-bottom:solid 5px; /*margin-top:50px*/ } @media (min-width:700px){ .PSIStates img { float:right; width:40vw; min-width:400px; max-width:475px; margin-left:15px; margin-top: 15px; } } @media (max-width:699px){ .PSIStates img { width:auto; max-width: calc(100% - 150px); margin:auto; display:block } } .PSIStates .btn-primary{ margin-top:25px; } .PSI-StateList{ text-align:center; margin-bottom:15px; } <div class="PSI-StateList" id="StateList"><a href="#alabama" title="Jump to Alabama">AL</a> | <a href="#arizona" title="Jump to Arizona">AZ</a> | <a href="#arkansas" title="Jump to Arkansas">AR</a> | <a href="#california" title="Jump to California">CA</a> | <a href="#colorado" title="Jump to Colorado">CO</a> | <a href="#connecticut" title="Jump to Connecticut">CT</a> | <a href="#delaware" title="Jump to Delaware">DE</a> | <a href="#florida" title="Jump to Florida">FL</a> | <a href="#georgia" title="Jump to Georgia">GA</a> | <a href="#illinois" title="Jump to Illinois">IL</a> | <a href="#indiana" title="Jump to Indiana">IN</a> | <a href="#iowa" title="Jump to Iowa">IA</a> | <a href="#kansas" title="Jump to Kansas">KS</a> | <a href="#kentucky" title="Jump to Kentucky">KY</a> | <a href="#maryland" title="Jump to Maryland">MD</a> | <a href="#massachusetts" title="Jump to Massachusetts">MA</a> | <a href="#michigan" title="Jump to Michigan">MI</a> | <a href="#missouri" title="Jump to Missouri">MO</a> | <a href="#montana" title="Jump to Montana">MT</a> | <a href="#nevada" title="Jump to Nevada">NV</a> | <a href="#new-hampshire" title="Jump to New Hampshire">NH</a> | <a href="#new-jersey" title="Jump to New Jersey">NJ</a> | <a href="#north-carolina" title="Jump to North Carolina">NC</a> | <a href="#ohio" title="Jump to Ohio">OH</a> | <a href="#pennsylvania" title="Jump to Pennsylvania">PA</a> | <a href="#south-carolina" title="Jump to South Carolina">SC</a> | <a href="#south-dakota" title="Jump to South Dakota">SD</a> | <a href="#virginia" title="Jump to Virginia">VA</a> | <a href="#washington" title="Jump to Washington">WA</a> | <a href="#wisconsin" title="Jump to Wisconsin">WI</a> | <a href="#dc" title="Jump to District of Columbia">D.C.</a></div><div class="PSIStatesWrapper"><div class="PSIStates" id="alabama"><h2>Alabama</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Childrens-Hospital-Alabama-Birmingham-700x532.jpg" alt="Exterior view of the building for Children's of Alabama" id="ChildrensAlabama"><h3>Children's of Alabama</h3><h4>Quest for Zero/Solutions for Patient Safety Collaborative</h4><p>Through its own patient safety initiatives, Children’s of Alabama supports the national goals of the Solutions for Patient Safety Collaborative, a group of children’s hospitals working together to help each other reach zero harm. Children’s Quality Improvement Committee focuses on addressing hospital-acquired conditions through training videos and other tools. Their work helps strengthen safety by reducing surgical site infections, pressure injuries, falls, sepsis and adverse drug events among other things.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.childrensal.org/childrens-sps-initiative" title="Children’s of Alabama | Children's SPS Initiative">Learn More</a></p><hr><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Crestwood-Medical-Center-nurse-patient-700x532.jpg" alt="Crestwood Medical Center nurse holding a patients hand in bed" id="CrestwoodMedical"><h3>Crestwood Medical Center</h3><h4>Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE)</h4><p>To improve geriatric care, Crestwood Medical Center launched the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) program, which addresses clinical issues such as falls, pain, skin breakdown and wounds, use of advance directives and family involvement in decision-making. Additionally, NICHE aims to make the physical and social environment friendlier to older adult patients. Crestwood Medical Center has implemented steps to recognize and address the unique needs of elderly patients with the support of a core group of geriatric resource nurses who have received additional education and training specific to geriatric nursing.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.crestwoodmedcenter.com/acute-care-for-the-elderly" title="Crestwood Acute Care | Acute Care for Elderly (ACE)">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="arizona"><h2>Arizona</h2><h3 id="ValleywiseHealth">Valleywise Health</h3><h4>Bicycle Helmet Screening and Distribution in the ER: An Injury Prevention Program</h4><p>Protecting children from serious injury is paramount. Through a state safety grant, Valleywise received funds to purchase bicycle helmets to distribute at community events focusing on health and safety. To protect young Arizonans, staff distributed helmets at no cost to families at community and school events and Valleywise Comprehensive Health Centers and Family Resource Centers. Through this program, Valleywise offers a proactive health measure aimed at preventing head injuries. In light of serious injuries from bicycle accidents, including a significant number of pediatric patients arriving in the emergency department, Valleywise educated children and their families about preventing injuries and riding safely.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/azhha/pages/902/attachments/original/1730745142/Valleywise_BicycleHelmetScreeningandDistroinED_POSTER.pdf?1730745142" title="Valleywise Health | Bicycle Helmet Screening and Distribution in the Emergency Department An Injury Prevention Program to engage the community during Emergency Department visits.">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="arkansas"><h2>Arkansas</h2><h3 id="NEABaptist">NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital</h3><h4>C-diff Task Force Committee</h4><p>NEA Baptist Memorial established the C-diff Task Force Committee aiming to eliminate the spread of C-diff, a common bacterial infection that can be acquired in a hospital. The committee developed and implemented various strategies to reduce C-diff, including reducing hospital-acquired infections, evaluating patient care processes and systems-based practices, and optimizing utilization of health care resources. For its efforts, the C-diff Task Force Committee was awarded the Baptist President’s Quality Award.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://bmme-imresidency-neabaptist.org/Quality_Improvement" title="NEA Baptist Residency | Quality Improvement & Patient Safety">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="california"><h2>California</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Childrens-Hospital-Los-Angeles-700x532.jpg" alt="Smiling baby boy with a trach" id="ChildrensHospital"><h3>Children's Hospital Los Angeles</h3><h4>Southern California’s First Aerodigestive Program</h4><p>Aerodigestive disorders affect the airways or upper and lower respiratory tracts. In response, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles launched a pediatric Aerodigestive Program specifically designed to address children’s ability to breathe, swallow and eat. As a subspecialty of its nationally ranked Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine and Gastroenterology, Nutrition and Hepatology services, the program developed effective ways to better serve pediatric patients. Successful strategies used in this program include a collaborative team approach, comprehensive diagnostic testing, specialized clinics and an expert care team including nutritionists as well as digestive, respiratory and breathing specialists.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.chla.org/aerodigestive-program" title="Children’s Hospital Los Angeles | Aerodigestive Program">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="colorado"><h2>Colorado</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Intermountain-Health-smmck9groupphoto2-700x532.jpg" alt="SMMC K-9 group with 4 handlers and their dogs" id="IntermountainHealth"><h3>Intermountain Health St. Mary's Regional Hospital</h3><h4>Culture of Care & K-9 Program</h4><p>Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital created a #CultureofCare campaign to combat a rise in verbal and physical workplace violence incidences directed against health care workers. The #CultureofCare campaign aims to make sure everyone knows abuse will not be permitted and staff will be supported when it does occur. The #CultureofCare programs seek to ensure health care workers’ safety through education, training and system enhancements, including an innovative K-9 program at St. Mary’s Regional Hospital in Colorado. The dogs are trained to protect in life-threatening situations and to provide comfort and emotional support for employees, patients, family and visitors.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://cha.com/intermountain-health-st-marys-regional-hospital-culture-of-care-k-9-program/" title="Colorado Hospital Association | Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital – Culture of Care & K-9 Program">Learn More</a></p><p><br><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Denver-Health-CO-700x532.jpg" alt="Hand written sign that says: Welcome! This is your space for reflection, decompression & meaningful connection - to yourself and other in the community - HEART picture" id="DenverHealth"></p><h3>Denver Health</h3><h4>Resilience and Equity through Support and Training for Organizational Renewal (RESTORE) Program</h4><p>Employee well-being influences the quality of patient care and the ability of hospitals to recruit and retain high quality staff, so Denver Health dedicated resources toward improving employees’ mental well-being and reducing employee burnout. The Resilience and Equity through Support and Training for Organizational Renewal (RESTORE) program was designed to promote and sustain the mental well-being of the workforce; support individual, collective and organizational resilience through timely and confidential peer-delivered emotional support and psychological first aid; and provide trauma and resilience-informed education and training. Since the program launched in 2020, it has supported more than 519,000 touches and more than 16,500 encounters or activations for psychological first aid and emotional support. More than 4,500 individuals have participated in RESTORE.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://cha.com/denver-health-and-hospital-authority-resilience-and-equity-through-support-and-training-for-organizational-renewal/" title="Colorado Hospital Association | Denver Health – Resilience and Equity through Support and Training for Organizational Renewal">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="connecticut"><h2>Connecticut</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-UConn-Health-Safety-photo-for-UCT-700x532.jpg" alt="Scott Allen standing with the word SAFTEY in multiple languages" id="UConnHealth"><h3>UConn Health</h3><h4>Culture of Safety Where We Put the Patient First</h4><p>UConn Health has embraced a culture of safety to create a positive environment for patients and staff. The hospital encourages CHAMP behaviors: Communicate Clearly, Handoff Effectively, pay Attention to Detail, Mentor and Coach Others, and Practice and Accept a Questioning Attitude. UConn Health also encourages employees to embrace the STAR approach – Stop-Think-Act-Review – to take a short, mini-mental timeout before proceeding with a specific task to ensure it is the appropriate step. UConn also holds morning safety huddles designed to focus staff attention on safety in the hospital. It supports an error analysis program encouraging collaboration between the quality team and frontline staff to focus on ways to improve their system of care.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://today.uconn.edu/2024/04/uconn-healths-culture-of-safety-where-we-put-the-patient-first/" title="University of Connecticut | UConn Health’s Culture of Safety Where We Put the Patient First">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="delaware"><h2>Delaware</h2><h3 id="Bayhealth">Bayhealth</h3><h4>Mobile Care Clinic</h4><p>In 2023, Bayhealth launched a rolling clinic in a 38-foot medical recreational vehicle (RV) to help improve patient access to health care throughout central and southern Delaware. Bayhealth Mobile Care provides care to underserved and hard-to-reach communities throughout the state. The rolling clinic offers blood pressure checks, health education, health screenings and vaccinations. Bayhealth Mobile Care also enables Bayhealth to offer on-site occupational health services including hearing tests, physical exams, laboratory work and electrocardiograms.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.bayhealth.org/community-wellness/community-outreach/mobile-care" title="Bayhealth | Health on the Move">Learn More</a></p><hr><h3 id="ChristianaCare">ChristianaCare</h3><h4>School-Based Health Centers</h4><p>To encourage a lifelong path of wellness, ChristianaCare supports school-based health centers in Delaware’s elementary schools. Each school-based health center includes a health care team of medical, mental health, community health and nutrition experts. In addition to the School-Based Health Center, students are connected to the full ChristianaCare system of care. These wrap-around services are most effective in engaging students and creating positive health outcomes.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://christianacare.org/us/en/care/primary-care/pediatrics/high-school-wellness-centers" title="ChristianaCare | Pediatric Services: School-Based Health Centers">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="florida"><h2>Florida</h2><h3 id="AdventHealthLake">Advent Health Lake Placid</h3><h4>“Speak Up” Program</h4><p>Patients at Advent Health Lake Placid and throughout all of Advent Health’s 55 acute care hospitals are encouraged to play an active role in their safety through the “Speak Up” Program. This program gives patients the opportunity to share their comments, suggestions and concerns about safety and quality of care via SHARE cards available throughout each hospital. It offers patients other actionable tips such as paying attention to the care you receive, educating yourself about tests being conducted as well as your diagnosis and treatment plan, asking a trusted friend or family member to be your health care advocate, knowing your lab results and medications, and using medical centers that have met rigorous safety standards.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.adventhealth.com/legal/patient-safety" title="AdventHealth | Patient Safety: Committed to Your Safety">Learn More</a></p><hr><h3 id="BayCareHealth">BayCare Health System</h3><h4>FirstFocus</h4><p>BayCare prioritizes safety first across the health system. It implemented and standardized FirstFocus meetings in all divisions of all facilities to review reported patient safety events, identify risks, assign improvement activities, share lessons learned, and spread effective changes throughout the organization. By forming a multidisciplinary cross-divisional First Focus Sprint Group to develop optimization recommendations and then share those recommendations across the safety chain of committees, including senior and executive leadership, BayCare has achieved strong buy-in and awareness across its system.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://baycare.org/about-us/clinical-quality-at-baycare-health-system/our-quality-philosophy" title="BayCare | Our Quality Philosophy">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="georgia"><h2>Georgia</h2><h3 id="CoffeeRegional">Coffee Regional Medical Center</h3><h4>Electronic Medication Reconciliation Improvement Process</h4><p>An important part of patient safety is reducing the risk of medical errors – and Coffee Regional Medical Center is achieving that through its Electronic Medication Reconciliation Improvement Process. This 98-bed hospital has implemented an advanced medication distribution system which includes a robotic pharmacy where patient barcodes are matched to prescription barcodes. This confirms that the right medications are delivered to the right patient, helping to improve patient safety and medical outcomes.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.coffeeregional.org/technology-at-crmc/" title="Coffee Regional Medical Center | Innovations in Technology">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="illinois"><h2>Illinois</h2><h3 id="FHNMemorial">FHN Memorial Hospital</h3><h4>Post-birth Alert Orange Bracelet Program</h4><p>FHN Memorial Hospital is prioritizing postpartum patient safety. Women in the first six to twelve weeks after delivering a baby are at higher risk of dying from pregnancy and birth-related complications such as blood clots or sepsis. To address this, each postpartum patient is given an orange wristband at discharge to serve as an alert. The bands are worn until the mother’s postpartum appointment with their provider. Additionally, if a post-partum patient has a medical emergency and is not able to communicate, the bracelet informs providers and emergency personnel of her postpartum status. Thanks to these alerts, FHN has increased the percentage of time when patients are triaged by a nurse within 10 minutes from 39% to 58%.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.fhn.org/Post-Birth-Alert-Bracelet.asp" title="FHN | Post-Birth Alert Orange Bracelet Program">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="indiana"><h2>Indiana</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Hendricks-Regional-Health-483482354-700x532.jpg" alt="Group photo of Kim now that she is back to PT/OT with her therapists, Kayla and Laura." id="HendricksRegional"><h3>Hendricks Regional Health</h3><h4>Fall Prevention Program</h4><p>Falls are a leading cause of injury in hospitalized patients. Hendricks Regional Health has a patient-centric falls prevention program that provides all patients with the individual support they need to ambulate safely. The program assesses an individual’s fall risk, determines the safest way to assist a patient during ambulation and repositioning in bed, and offers an individualized patient safety tool sharing safe ambulation information among appropriate staff.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.hendricks.org/?id=1325&sid=1" title="Hendricks Regional Health | Health Equity and Fall Risk">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="iowa"><h2>Iowa</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Boone-medical-bed-700x532.jpg" alt="empty patients room with a medical bed" id="BooneCounty"><h3>Boone County Hospital</h3><h4>Safer Room</h4><p>Boone County Hospital opened a Safer Room in their Medical/Surgical Unit to keep patients in mental health crises safe. This room is specifically designed with specialized doors and secure medication storage to ensure the safety of both patients and staff while delivering essential medical and mental health care.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.boonehospital.com/about-us/news-library/safer-room-open-for-patients" title="Boone County Hospital | Safer Room Opens for Patients">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="kansas"><h2>Kansas</h2><h3 id="UniversityKansas">The University of Kansas Health System</h3><h4>Equitable Colorectal Screening</h4><p>The University of Kansas Health System is helping close gaps in colorectal cancer screening. Through a partnership with other local providers, KU helps provide low-cost to no-cost fecal immunochemical test kits, and when needed, follow-up CT colonography and colonoscopies. Through a public-private partnership, the Health Partnership Clinic has developed innovative strategies to increase access to care and increase screening rates in their underserved patient population.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.khconline.org/news/khc-news-releases/648-health-partnership-clinic-closes-gaps-in-colorectal-cancer-screening " title="Kansas Healthcare Collaborative | Health Partnership Clinic Closes Gaps in Colorectal Cancer Screening">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="kentucky"><h2>Kentucky</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Owensboro-Infection-Prevention-Team-700x532.jpg" alt="Owensboro Health Regional Hospital Wins Kentucky Hospital Association" id="OwensboroHealth"><h3>Owensboro Health Regional Hospital</h3><h4>Infection Prevention Initiative</h4><p>Owensboro’s Infection Prevention Initiative team implemented a “no flash rule” to ensure better sterilization of surgical tools and instruments throughout the hospital. The hospital’s electronic medical record system is included in the project to assist with the scheduling process and to optimize the use of sterile instruments needed for surgical procedures. In four years, they have seen a 50.76% reduction in Class 2 surgical site infections.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.owensborohealth.org/news-events/news-media/2023/owensboro-health-regional-hospital-wins-kentucky-hospital-association" title="Owensboro Health | Owensboro Health Regional Hospital Wins Kentucky Hospital Association Quality Award">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="maryland"><h2>Maryland</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Meritus-MD-patient-nurse-700x532.jpg" alt="Nusre checking on a patient with loved one nearby" id="#MeritusHealth"><h3>Meritus Health</h3><h4>Team STEPPS Program</h4><p>Meritus Health has created a patient safety environment built on trust, fairness, and community. Through the Team STEPPS program, Meritus Health focuses on Communication, Situation Monitoring, Leading Teams, and Mutual Support to create a culture of safety at every level – from patients and families to care members and support staff. The Team STEPPS program, which is strengthened by other Meritus safety culture programs including increased security and teamwork, has resulted in a 10.7% decrease in care quality concerns and 21% drop in preventable harm events.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.meritushealth.com/about/patients-visitors/zero-harm" title="Meritus Health | Zero Harm">Learn More</a></p><p><br> </p><h3 id="JohnsHopkins">Johns Hopkins Medical</h3><h4>Communication and Resolution Program</h4><p>The team at Johns Hopkins Medical understands the importance of communication in ensuring patient safety. They created a Communication and Resolution Program (CRP) which promises consistent, open and honest communication between health care providers, patients and patients’ family members.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/armstrong-institute/clinical-operations/communication-resolution" title="Johns Hopkins Medicine | Communication and Resolution Program (CRP)">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="massachusetts"><h2>Massachusetts</h2><h3 id="EmersonHealth">Emerson Health</h3><h4>Equity Informed High Reliability</h4><p>Emerson Health is invested in creating a culture of reliability and trains all members of the board, senior leaders, and heads of the medical staff on Equity Informed High Reliability. Front line staff and patient and family input is included in all event evaluations to enhance risk perception and build safer systems. Safety reporting tripled the first year of the program and grew by another 25% the second year.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-08-14-it-starts-culture-quality-and-safety-emerson-health" title="It Starts with Culture: Quality and Safety at Emerson Health">Learn More</a></p><hr><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Boston-Medical-Center-485305819-700x532.jpg" alt="People gathered togther" id="BostonMedical"><h3>Boston Medical Center</h3><h4>Daily Safety Huddle</h4><p>Boston Medical Center’s daily safety huddle is a cornerstone of our commitment to patient safety and operational excellence, bringing together leaders from 50 hospital areas to collaborate in real-time. With >95% consistent participation, this seven-day-a-week forum ensures rapid issue resolution, fosters teamwork, and enhances communication, with nearly 100 attendees on weekdays and daily email summaries reaching 400 leaders. By reviewing safety events from the past 24 hours and anticipating potential challenges for the next 24, our huddle drives continuous improvement and proactive problem-solving across the hospital. In 2024, more than 6,900 safety and operational issues were raised at the huddle and 87% were resolved within one day.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.bmc.org/quality-and-safety" title="Boston Medical Center | Quality and Patient Safety">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="michigan"><h2 id="michigan">Michigan</h2><h3 id="CorewellHealth">Corewell Health</h3><h4>Quality, Safety and Experience Department</h4><p>Corewell Health realizes the reality facing health care today - increasing complexity in operations and ever-higher targets for patient experience, safety and quality. They are pursuing a wide range of initiatives to improve the resilience of their systems and processes, with a special focus on patient care through their Quality, Safety and Experience Department. Corewell offers quality report cards for specific conditions and procedures to empower patients to make informed choices for the personalized care they seek.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.spectrumhealth.org/about-us/quality-safety-and-patient-experience/quality-reports" title="Corewell Health | Quality reports">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="missouri"><h2>Missouri</h2><h3 id="CoxNorth">Cox North Hospital</h3><h4>Safety and Injury Prevention</h4><p>Cox North offers innovative educational outreach programs focused on injury prevention in the community, school and workplace. These programs, which include safety measures related to poison, guns, biking, fires, water, driving and more, span from elementary school students to high schoolers and beyond and are available at no cost.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.coxhealth.com/services/trauma-services/safety-and-injury-prevention/." title="CoxHealth | Safety and Injury Prevention: Available Educational Outreach Programs">Learn More</a></p><hr><h3 id="ChildrensMercy">Children’s Mercy Hospital</h3><h4>Safety, Care & Nurturing (SCAN) program</h4><p>Mercy collaborates with social workers and government agencies to develop novel prevention and therapy programs. The Safety, Care & Nurturing (SCAN) program includes specially trained pediatric and adolescent sexual assault nurse examiners for expert forensic and medical care.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.childrensmercy.org/departments-and-clinics/child-adversity-and-resilience/safety-care-and-nurturing/" title="The Children's Mercy Hospital | Safety, Care & Nurturing Clinic">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="montana"><h2>Montana</h2><h3 id="ProvidenceStJoseph">Providence St. Joseph Medical Center</h3><h4>Certified Safe Sleep Center</h4><p>Providence St. Joseph Medical Center is committed to eliminating sleep-related deaths by helping prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A specially designed program emphasizes the need to create a safe sleep environment by placing a baby on its back to sleep and following health care guidance for vaccines, breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.providence.org/locations/mt/st-joseph-medical-center/birthing-center/safe-sleep-hospital" title="Providence St. Joseph Medical Center | Certified Safe Sleep Hospital">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="nevada"><h2>Nevada</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Tahoe-Forest-Health-System-NV-700x532.jpg" alt="Medical personal making a little child happy" id="TahoeForest"><h3>Tahoe Forest Health System</h3><h4>STEEEP Framework</h4><p>Throughout the Tahoe Forest Hospital District, the system has adopted the Institute of Medicine’s ‘STEEEP’ framework to deliver quality care. Following the framework, staff and facilities are focused on providing care that is Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable, and Patient-centered. The Tahoe Forest team is focused on reducing surgical site infections and sepsis, improving Emergency Department Transfer Communication (EDTC), and more to strengthen patient safety.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.tfhd.com/about/quality-safety/" title="Tahoe Forest Health System | Quality & Safety">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="new-hampshire"><h2>New Hampshire</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Dartmouth-Hitchcock-Medical-Center_patient-safety-training-center-room-700x532.jpg" alt="Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center patient safety training center room" id="DartmouthHitchcock"><h3>Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center</h3><h4>Patient Safety Training Center Programs</h4><p>As part of the Patient Safety Training Center, Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center incorporates innovative Simulation-Based Education and Research (SBER) for clinical skills and task training, competency development and scenario-based training. In using these simulation education tools, health care professionals acquire technical proficiency, knowledge, confidence, appropriate attitudes and team skills to continue the journey to safer practice and excellence in patient care.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/patient-safety-center" title="Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center | The Patient Safety Training Center">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="new-jersey"><h2>New Jersey</h2><h3 id="TrinitasRegional">Trinitas Regional Medical Center</h3><h4>Operation SAFE Program</h4><p>Trinitas Regional Medical Center has rolled out a program addressing the potential anxiety children and families may face before a patient or loved one undergoes surgery. Trinitas provides a supportive and friendly environment through their Operation SAFE (Supportive and Friendly Environment) Program. The program allows for pre-op tours of the hospital, an operating room holding area for parents, and enables parents to play an active role in the operation prep process.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.rwjbh.org/trinitas-regional-medical-center/patients-visitors/operation-safe-at-trinitas/" title="Trinitas Regional Medical Center | Operation Safe At Trinitas">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="north-carolina"><h2>North Carolina</h2><h3 id="UNCHealth">UNC Health</h3><h4>Health Quality Expo</h4><p>UNC Health’s Annual Quality Expo showcases performance improvement initiatives across the organization, providing departments an opportunity to share their success stories. Over the past two years, each expo featured more than 100 poster presentations. In 2023, the Anesthesiology Department won the “Collaboration Is Key” award for its “Code OR Root Cause Analysis” project, which focused on improving communication between six separate teams including Carolina Air Care.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.uncmedicalcenter.org/uncmc/about/quality-and-safety/projects-and-programs/" title="UNC Medical Center | Projects and Programs">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="ohio"><h2>Ohio</h2><h3 id="SummaHealth">Summa Health</h3><h4>I'm 4 Safety</h4><p>With the aim of providing safe and reliable care to patients, Summa Health and its medical staff have partnered to implement the “I’m 4 Safety” training program, bringing successful practices from other highly complex industries like aviation into their everyday health care operations. In addition to an initial comprehensive course, most Summa Health staff members are required to participate in a renewal course every two years, ensuring that they remain up to date on the most sophisticated safety protocols.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.summahealth.org/medical-staff/orientation/im-4-safety-training-requirement" title="Summa Health System | “I’m 4 Safety” Training Requirement ">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="pennsylvania"><h2>Pennsylvania</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-04/PSI-UPMC-Presbyterian-Nursing-PA-700x532.jpg" alt="Medical Staff looking closley at something one is pointing to on a monitor" id="UniversityPittsburgh"><h3>University of Pittsburgh Medical Center</h3><h4>Infection Prevention CAUTI</h4><p>The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center launched a program to reduce or eliminate the number of infections acquired during a hospital stay. Infections caused by urinary catheters are among the most common infections caused by a medical device while a patient is in the hospital. UPMC takes many steps to prevent CAUTIs, including only using urinary catheters when necessary, allowing only nurses and well-trained staff who have been taught sterile techniques to insert and remove catheters, as well as having caregivers wash their hands and wear gloves when working with the catheter.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.upmc.com/about/why-upmc/quality/patient-safety/avoiding-injuries/infection-prevention/cauti" title="UPMC | Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="south-carolina"><h2>South Carolina</h2><h3 id="MUSCHealth">MUSC Health</h3><h4>Just Culture</h4><p>MUSC Health has achieved remarkable results since instituting a “Just Culture,” or an environment where open reporting of things that are wrong, unsafe or inefficient can be done without fear of major repercussions. Since MUSC put this culture into place a decade ago, they have seen remarkable results. In 2023, MUSC’s reported harm rate (such as medication errors, surgical mistakes and preventable patient falls) was 2.5%, meaning very few incidences resulted in actual harm. With this culture in place, MUSC can quickly identify problems and address issues quickly and efficiently resulting in a positive outcome.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://web.musc.edu/about/news-center/2023/11/01/just-culture" title="Medical University of South Carolina | Creating a culture of safety is what’s best for provider and patient">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="south-dakota"><h2>South Dakota</h2><h3 id="SanfordHealth">Sanford Health</h3><h4>Accountability for Excellence</h4><p>Sanford Health’s safety program aims to eliminate preventable harm. Everyone is responsible for ensuring safety, not just those who provide direct care to patients. By standardizing training for every single employee, there’s been a change in culture and practice where staff have a shared language and commitment to identifying, reporting, and addressing actual and potential safety events. Through this program, Sanford Health noted a 57% reduction in its serious safety event rate thus far.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://news.sanfordhealth.org/podcast/ep-14-sanfords-journey-to-zero-preventable-harm/" title="Sanford Health | Sanford’s journey to zero preventable harm">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="virginia"><h2>Virginia</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Carilion-Clinic_nonsurg3-700x532.jpg" alt="Carilion Clinic patient room" id="CarilionClinic"><h3>Carilion Clinic</h3><h4>Using Data to Drive Mortality Rate Improvements</h4><p>The Roanoke-based hospital saw an opportunity to address mortality outcomes in 2022 and created a real-time mortality review system. The hospital’s leadership gathers weekly to discuss current data, trends and patterns in outcomes to quickly identify areas for investment and improvement. Within two years of establishing this process, Carilion’s mortality rate has improved by more than 50% – remarkable progress over an already high benchmark. These significant achievements led to Carilion Clinic being named a finalist for AHA’s Quest for Quality Prize in 2024.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="/press-releases/2024-07-17-aha-honors-four-hospitals-health-systems-their-dedication-and-commitment-quality" title="AHA Honors Four Hospitals & Health Systems For Their Dedication and Commitment to Quality">Learn More</a></p><hr><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Mary-Washington-Healthcare-Safety-Team-Photo-700x532.jpg" alt="Mary Washington Healthcare Safety Team Photo" id="MaryWashington"><h3>Mary Washington Healthcare</h3><h4>Unified Quality Governance Drives Incredible Improvements</h4><p>When leaders at Mary Washington Healthcare realized it wasn’t scoring as high it would like on safety and quality measures, they instituted a unified Quality Governance structure to coordinate all efforts within the organization. Projects related to health care-associated infections, patient safety indicators, readmissions, mortality, and NTSV C-sections were integrated into the framework. Physicians were assigned to oversee or “own” the projects. This approach enabled Mary Washington Healthcare to formulate improvement plans with multidisciplinary input, streamline work requests and establish clear lines of accountability. As a result, it significantly improved its performance in preventing infections, mortality and readmissions.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com/about-us/" title="Mary Washington Healthcare | About Mary Washington Healthcare">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="washington"><h2>Washington</h2><h3 id="VirginiaMason">Virginia Mason Franciscan Health System</h3><h4>Evidence-based practice improvements strengthen a culture of safety</h4><p>Virginia Mason Franciscan Health considers each of its 5,000 staff members to be "safety inspectors" responsible for detecting and preventing potential medical errors before they occur. Each employee completes mistake-proofing training, which empowers them to identify and raise any patient-safety related issues, including hospital-acquired infections. This culture empowers employees to call attention to potential mistakes, without fear of blame or retaliation. As part of its efforts to eliminate avoidable death and injury in its facilities, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health also implements evidence-based practice improvements in 12 clinical areas to continually up the bar on patient safety.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.vmfh.org/about-vmfh/research-care-quality/quality-patient-safety" title=" Virginia Mason Franciscan Health | Quality & Patient Safety">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="wisconsin"><h2>Wisconsin</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-04/PSI-Aurora-Health-Care-Org-700x532.jpg" alt="Aurora Health Care Org Exterior" id="AuroraMedical"><h3 id="">Aurora Medical Center - Manitowoc County, Two Rivers</h3><h4>Implementing a Visual Management Board System to Improve Patient Safety</h4><p>Located in a largely rural county that abuts Lake Michigan, Aurora Medical Center - Manitowoc County, Two Rivers is a cornerstone of the community. The hospital’s patient care units hold regular huddles to discuss ways to improve patient care, quality, and provide other necessary information. An organizational review of huddle practices showed opportunity for standardized huddle practices to consistently promote sensitivity to operations, situational awareness of current concerns and problem resolution. To improve, local hospital leadership standardized the process and implemented a visual management board. As a result, care teams now hold shorter, more efficient huddles at the start of every shift to discuss the unit’s daily goals with the opportunity to customize the discussion based on patient and department need.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://wha.org/data-publications/reports/quality/2024/aurora-medical-center-manitowoc-county,-two-rivers" title="Aurora Medical Center | Manitowoc County, Two Rivers, 2024 Quality">Learn More</a></p><hr><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSI-Tomah-Health-IMG_8169-700x532.jpg" alt="Tomah resident Jackie Flock, left, walked with assistance from Tomah Health certified nursing assistant / Ambulation Aide Vicki Gonzales. Hospital officials say the WHA designed MOVIN program has made a difference for patients and staff." id="TomahHealth"><h3>Tomah Health</h3><h4>Preventing Falls Is Vital</h4><p>Preventing falls is vital to keeping hospitalized patients safe. To help avoid debilitating falls—which are more likely to occur after a period of prolonged bedrest––Tomah Health implemented the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Mobilizing Older adults Via a systems-based Intervention (MOVIN)® program. By working with patients to set mobility goals and incorporating ambulation into each patient’s care plan, the MOVIN program helps individuals regain strength, prevent injuries, and ease the transition out of the hospital and back into the community.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide ext" href="https://www.tomahhealth.org/wha-movin-program-enhances-tomah-health-care/" target="_blank" title="Tomah Health | WHA MOVIN Program Enhances Tomah Health Care">Learn More</a></p></div><div class="PSIStates" id="dc"><h2>District of Columbia (D.C.)</h2><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-04/PSI-Childrens-National-Hospital-NICU-baby-700x532.jpg" alt="NICU baby holding a finger" id="ChildrensNational"><h3>Children's National Hospital</h3><h4>Reducing Vancomycin Use in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)</h4><p>Children’s National Hospital is pioneering a program to reduce the use of the antibiotic vancomycin in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The assembled multidisciplinary team decreased vancomycin use in the NICU by 60% and recorded no episodes of vancomycin-associated kidney injury in the NICU. The team developed and implemented several interventions, including standardizing the hospital’s approach to treating several types of infections, integrating pharmacists into the antibiotic review process and educating clinicians on antibiotic use. As an added benefit of the program, the use of other antibiotics in the NICU also declined by about 20%.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary btn-wide" href="https://www.childrensnational.org/about-us/quality-and-safety/for-our-families" title="Children’s National Hospital | For Our Families">Learn More</a></p></div></div></div></div> .ReturnTop { float: right; background-color:; position:relative; left:-0px; top:0px; } .ReturnTop a{ float: right; background-color: ; position: relative; left: -0px; top: 33px; padding: 5px 15px 5px 15px; border-radius: 5px; color: ; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; } .ReturnTop a:hover{ background-color: ; } // Finds all of the same Class with name... const elements = document.querySelectorAll('.PSIStates'); // Adds HTML Before each Class elements.forEach(element => { element.insertAdjacentHTML('beforebegin', '<div class="ReturnTop"><a href="#StateList" title="Jump back to the top of the state list">Top ↑</div>'); }); Mon, 17 Mar 2025 16:10:46 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /role-hospitals-commonspirit-health-and-university-utah-health-announce-new-strategic-clinical-partnership <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-9"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-6"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-01/THS-commonspirit-utah-700x532.jpg" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type="file" alt="CommonSpirit and University of Utah Health. Poster shows a landscape shot with hospital buildings in foreground and mountains in background, overlaid with CommonSpirit and University of Utah Health logos" width="700" height="532"></p></div><p>CommonSpirit Health and University of Utah Health have announced a strategic clinical alliance to enhance patient access to high-quality medical care across several CommonSpirit hospitals in Utah. This partnership will allow patients at five CommonSpirit hospitals — Holy Cross Hospital Davis, Holy Cross Hospital Jordan Valley, Holy Cross Hospital Jordan Valley West, Holy Cross Hospital Mountain Point, and Holy Cross Hospital Salt Lake — to benefit from the expertise of University of Utah Health's renowned physicians and providers. The collaboration aims to innovate health care delivery along the Wasatch Front, a major metropolitan region in north-central Utah, giving patients increased access to high-performing, world-class medical care close to home.</p><p>“We look forward to welcoming University of Utah Health providers to our hospitals and working alongside them as we improve population health and build a path to more accessible care along the Wasatch Front and beyond,” said Andrew Gaasch, president of the CommonSpirit Mountain Region.</p><p>With more than 26,000 faculty and staff, University of Utah Health is the only academic health care system in the state of Utah and provides patient care for the people of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and much of Nevada. It is also the training ground for many of Utah's physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, other health care professionals and the next generation of researchers and scientists.</p><p><a class="btn btn-primary" href="https://www.mountain.commonspirit.org/news/commonspirit-health-and-university-utah-health-announce-new-strategic-clinical-partnership">LEARN MORE</a></p></div></div><div class="col-md-3"><div><h4>Resources on the Role of Hospitals</h4><ul><li><a href="/community-benefit">Benefiting Communities</a></li><li><a href="/roleofhospitals">All Case Studies</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div> Tue, 28 Jan 2025 13:21:05 -0600 Quality Improvement Opportunities /groundbreaking-heart-procedure-performed-toddler-osf-childrens-hospital-illinois <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-9"><div class="col-md-6"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-01/telling-the-hospital-stoy-image-osf-childrens-hospital-of-illinois-ferns-plumkett-turbendian.jpg" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type="file" alt="OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois" width="700" height="532"></p></div><p>In December, OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois announced surgeons had successfully performed the world’s first implantation of an extravascular implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (EV-ICD) in a 2-year-old child who had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. This innovative device, developed by Medtronic, had previously only been used in adults or much older teenagers.</p><p>Sunita Ferns, M.D., director of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Electrophysiology, diagnosed the patient with Brugada syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes heart arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Ferns assembled the team of specialists to try the EV-ICD on the young patient. “We needed buy-in to trial a new device for the first time ever in a patient his size from the surgeons and good technical support.”</p><p>Harma Turbendian, M.D., the primary surgeon, led the minimally invasive procedure. “They’re fairly small incisions that are required for implantation of the device,” Turbendian said. “You actually don’t have to access the heart in order to place this thing.” This approach eliminates the need for open-heart surgery, making it a safer and less invasive option for young patients.</p><p>Ferns said their work will soon be published to guide other medical centers worldwide. Mark Plunkett, M.D., the chief of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, described the EV-ICD as a “game changer” that will revolutionize pediatric cardiac care. “Its design initially was for adults or adult-sized patients. The fact we've proven it to be effective and safely implantable in a child this size really expands its application immensely." </p><p><a class="btn btn-primary" href="https://newsroom.osfhealthcare.org/parents-fast-actions-lead-to-world-first-heart-procedure/" target="_blank" title="OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois">Learn more about this world-first heart procedure. </a></p></div><div class="col-md-3"><div><h4>Resources on the Role of Hospitals</h4><ul><li><a href="/topics/innovation">Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement</a></li><li><a href="/roleofhospitals">All Case Studies</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div> Thu, 02 Jan 2025 23:10:55 -0600 Quality Improvement Opportunities /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-09-24-two-health-system-ai-pilots-detail-results-note-taking-and-chart-reviews <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Two-Health-System-AI-Pilots-Detail-Results-in-Note-Taking-and-Chart-Reviews.png" data-entity-uuid="6df54c10-c08c-45fa-990f-41ce247f024c" data-entity-type="file" alt="Two Health System AI Pilots Detail Results in Note-Taking and Chart Reviews. An AI controlled left hand and a human right hand type on a keyboard in a clinical setting." width="100%" height="100%"><p>The transformational potential and power of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical documentation and note-taking is undergoing intense evaluation in the field. Meanwhile, other hospitals and health systems are exploring ways to use AI for patient chart reviews to provide clinicians with greater visibility to aid in diagnoses to improve patient care.</p><p>The use of AI technologies is beginning to show demonstrable results in terms of patient care, operations efficiency and outcomes, according to the digital health consultancy AVIA. A recent <a href="https://aviahealth.com/insights/generative-ai-transforming-healthcare-two-real-life-success-stories/" target="_blank" title="AVIA: Generative AI is Transforming Healthcare: Two Real-Life Success Stories">AVIA blog</a> describes how a large Midwest academic medical center used an ambient documentation program that demonstrated a decrease in both average minutes in notes per appointment and per day for providers that utilized the solution, while simultaneously increasing monthly appointments.</p><h2><span>Among the Results:</span></h2><ul><li>For providers that <span><strong>used the tool for more than 40% of their appointments</strong></span>, there was a 29% decrease in both average minutes in notes per appointment and average minutes in note-taking per day.</li><li>These same high utilizers boosted monthly appointments by 7% and <span><strong>achieved a higher level of service</strong></span>, the report notes.</li><li>All the providers said <span><strong>they would like to continue using the solution</strong></span> after the pilot.</li></ul><p>The blog also cites results from a large regional health system in the Western U.S. that used AI to streamline the process of analyzing patient records, synthesizing patient information and insuring accurate coding.</p><p>Use of the AI solution led to an increased case mix index and complication/comorbidity capture. It also expedited revenue-cycle workflow, and reduced both denial appeals and administrative burdens, saving clinicians an average of 10 minutes per patient per day on follow-up documentation.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" width="721" height="130" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 24 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /role-hospitals-medical-university-south-carolina-fib-patients-life-without-blood-thinners <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-9"><div class="col-md-5"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-09/ths-musc-watchman-700x532.jpg" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type="file" alt="MUSC. A female doctor listens to an older male patients heart." width="700" height="532"></p></div><p>For years, the first-line treatment for atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, has been blood thinners. A-fib, which is a cardiac rhythm abnormality, can lead to other health complications, including strokes — it’s estimated that 90% of all strokes happen in patients who have A-fib.</p><p>The problem with blood thinners is exactly what makes them so effective: They prevent blood clots. This is good when trying to avoid a stroke, but can cause complications when A-fib patients undergo surgery, fall, or have a history of other bleeding problems.</p><p>The WATCHMAN device solves that issue. It’s essentially a small plug placed on the left atrial appendage that prevents blood clots from forming there and traveling to the brain. It’s a simple solution. L. Garrison Morgan, M.D., director of the Structural Heart Disease program at the Medical University of South Carolina, says that his team can implant the device in about 15 minutes. The patients are on bed rest for about two hours, and then they go home. In the past six years, MUSC patients have experienced a 99.5% success rate and zero major complications. How did Morgan’s team get so good? In August, they completed their 800th WATCHMAN procedure.</p><p>But it’s no longer just a matter of volume. “There are clinical trials that we were part of that are essentially giving patients the option of having a WATCHMAN device as a first-line therapy,” Morgan said, which would mean that A-fib patients would never have to go on blood thinners for their condition.” “It’s very safe. It’s effective. It’s quick. And it gives the patient a lifetime’s worth of stroke prevention from one simple procedure.” <a href="https://web.musc.edu/about/news-center/2024/08/22/musc-health-columbia-medical-center-downtown-helps-hundreds-get-off-blood-thinners-with-watchman">Read more about MUSC and WATCHMAN here</a>.</p></div><div class="col-md-3"><div><h4>Resources on the Role of Hospitals</h4><ul><li><a href="/topics/innovation">Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement</a></li><li><a href="/roleofhospitals">All Case Studies</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div> Thu, 19 Sep 2024 19:13:46 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-08-27-4-leaders-improving-quality-care <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/4-Leaders-in-Improving-Quality-Care.png" data-entity-uuid="61a4b8ba-43bd-4488-9929-3b7157bdb0b4" data-entity-type="file" alt="4 Leaders in Improving Quality Care. The AHA Quest for Quality Prize displayed in front of the hospital entryway of winner WellSpan Health's York Hospital." width="100%" height="100%"></p><p><a href="https://www.wellspan.org/" target="_blank" title="WellSpan homepage"><strong>WellSpan Health</strong></a> is determined to improve health equity across its eight-hospital system headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. It has developed highly focused regional programs to address what is a national challenge: reducing or eliminating differences in life expectancy based on a patient’s race or ZIP code.</p><p>“We understand this is a long-term goal, but it’s the only measure that truly matters,” said Michael Seim, M.D., senior vice president and chief quality officer. “No one should have to live in a place where their race or ZIP code determines whether they die significantly younger than someone living just a few miles away.”</p><h2>Closing the Equity Gap</h2><p>WellSpan’s impact in this area is being felt throughout the communities it serves. It became one of the first health systems to earn the National Committee for Quality Assurance health equity accreditation. And more recently, it received the <a href="/about/awards/quest-for-quality">AHA Quest for Quality Prize</a>.</p><p>The AHA Quest for Quality Prize is awarded annually to recognize leadership and innovation in health care, particularly in improving quality and advancing the health of individuals and communities. The 2024 award highlights hospitals and health systems that are making significant strides in providing high-quality, safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, patient- and family-centered, and affordable care.</p><p>The organization’s strategy is built on three pillars: preventing premature death, promoting longevity and improving quality of life, with outcome measures used to track progress. For instance, when data showed that Hispanic patients needing an interpreter had lower breast cancer screening rates compared with other patients, WellSpan set three goals: to increase overall screening rates to 73%, boost screening rates in each racial and ethnic group by 1.25%, and reduce the number of patients without race/ethnicity/language (REL) data in their electronic health record (EHR) by 25%.</p><p>To achieve these goals, WellSpan implemented a multimodal approach, including a culturally and linguistically tailored outreach program targeting Spanish-speaking women overdue for screenings. By June 2023, two years after the baseline measurements, it exceeded all goals. Screening rates among Hispanic patients who speak Spanish and require an interpreter rose to 77.4%, REL data gaps were reduced by 50% and WellSpan’s race data-collection error rate fell to 1.76%, outperforming the national benchmark of 5%.</p><h2>Forging Partnerships to Improve Outcomes</h2><p>WellSpan’s mobile mammography program has forged partnerships with community-based organizations, enhancing its ability to reach diverse and underserved patients. Through a collaboration with a local insurance provider, the mobile breast-imaging unit offered private and discreet on-site screenings at 70 community events in 2023.</p><p>At these events, 1,011 individuals were screened, 63 under- or uninsured patients received screenings at no cost, and eight individuals were diagnosed with cancer that otherwise might have gone undetected.</p><p>In another outreach effort, WellSpan’s recuperative bed program provides unhoused patients with a safe place to continue healing after discharge. The health system leases nursing home spaces for these patients, and its social workers assist them in finding permanent housing. “Over the last five years, we’ve shifted from trying to do everything ourselves to focusing on finding key partners who can do certain things better,” Seim said.</p><h2>Tackling Gun Violence</h2><p>The credible messenger program is another example of WellSpan’s community collaboration. As part of the York City Gun Violence Initiative, the health system funded a liaison position to support gunshot victims and their families at WellSpan York Hospital.</p><p>In the first seven months of 2023, WellSpan York Hospital experienced a 43% reduction in gunshot wound patients overall and a 56% reduction in gunshot wounds with homicidal intent compared with the same period in 2022. WellSpan’s patient safety strategy also has yielded positive results.</p><p>The result was a 50% reduction in serious events between fiscal years 2020 and 2023, while the number of potential safety event entries doubled from 20,000 to more than 40,000 during the same period.</p><h2>Award Finalists</h2><p>The AHA also recognized three other organizations as finalists for the Quest for Quality Prize:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.carilionclinic.org/" target="_blank" title="Carilion Clinic homepage"><strong>Carilion Clinic</strong></a>, based in Roanoke, Virginia, leverages a teamwork-based strategy that has led to marked improvements in the reduction of health care-acquired infections, preventable harm following a surgical procedure, and falls with injury. Its systemwide mortality program and improvements to sepsis response and aspiration prevention have resulted in a 50% improvement in mortality.</li><li><a href="https://www.jeffersonhealth.org/about-us" target="_blank" title="Jefferson Health: About Jefferson"><strong>Jefferson Health</strong></a>, based in Philadelphia, deployed OnPoint, a comprehensive, unifying management system for improvement efforts in quality, safety, patient experience and health equity. In the last two fiscal years, sepsis mortality decreased 25% annually, saving nearly 700 lives, and central line-associated bloodstream infections decreased 15%, with 37 fewer infections in a two-year span.</li><li><a href="https://muschealth.org/" target="_blank" title="MUSC Health homepage"><strong>MUSC Health</strong></a>, based in Charleston, South Carolina, adopted a virtual-first strategy for some specialties, including neurology, pulmonology and primary care. The health system’s school-based telehealth program serves more than 100 schools and supports the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance, a statewide coalition serving more than 180 schools. This program provides physical and mental health care for children, including on-demand medical visits for common illnesses and trauma therapy.</li></ul><p><span><strong>Learn more</strong></span> about WellSpan Health and the finalists, watch the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kl6m43t8a4" target="_blank" title="YouTube: 2024 AHA Quest for Quality Prize Honorees">celebratory video</a> and download the <a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/07/2024-The-American-Hospital-Association-Quest-for-Quality-Prize-Honorees.pdf" target="_blank" title="2024 The ���������� Association Quest for Quality Prize Honorees PDF">honoree booklet</a>.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" width="721" height="130" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } h2 { color: #9d2235; } Tue, 27 Aug 2024 06:15:00 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities /role-hospitals-uc-davis-health-doctors-use-collarbone-create-new-upper-arm-young-patient <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-9"><div class="col-md-5"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/ths-ucdavis-collarbone-upper-arm-stock-700x532.jpg" data-entity-uuid="5d01e2d3-abd7-4fce-964e-dcd28f5b7cd9" data-entity-type="file" alt="UC Davis Health Doctors Use Collarbone to Create New Upper Arm for Young Patient. A doctor in gloves holds the hands of a young patient to test the strength in the patient's arms and hands." width="700" height="532"></p></div><p>When nine-year-old Sydney Engle was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her right arm, she and her parents had several options to choose from to prevent the cancer from spreading. Surgical options were challenging because of the extent of Sydney’s disease; due to her young age, she needed an option that would grow with her body.</p><p>Faced with the possibility of amputation or taking a bone from her leg to use in her arm, the Engles and their care team at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, Calif. opted for a rare procedure that involved using Sydney’s collarbone to create a new upper arm. The surgery, called clavicula pro humero, involved transposing the clavicle with its blood supply off the central vessels so it can function as the upper arm.</p><p>“I believe our team was the first to do this in the United States years ago,” said UC Davis Health pediatric musculoskeletal surgical oncologist and Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery R. Lor Randall, M.D., one of the relatively few physicians who has previously performed the surgery. “I first learned about the procedure in 2005 when I was touring in Africa, where they do not have as many options as we do here. We are now one of the most experienced teams in the world in utilizing this technique.”</p><p>To learn more about the successful surgery and how Sydney is doing today, read this <a href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/exceptionally-rare-procedure-called-clavicula-pro-humero-avoids-amputation-/2024/05" target="_blank">UC Davis Health article</a>.</p></div><div class="col-md-3"><div><h4>Resources on the Role of Hospitals</h4><ul><li><a href="/topics/innovation">Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement</a></li><li><a href="/roleofhospitals">All Case Studies</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div> Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:44:51 -0500 Quality Improvement Opportunities