It was an encouraging week for all American healthcare consumers, as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report demonstrating nearly $20 billion in health care cost savings and 2.1 million fewer hospital-acquired conditions, and over 2,000 healthcare quality improvement specialists met to hear industry leaders talk about the results that are occurring due in part to the ongoing efforts of CMS and QIN-QIOs as they work directly with hospital staff to improve care.
The HHS report, released on Dec. 1, estimates that 87,000 fewer patients died in hospitals between 2010 and 2014, and that hospitals saw 2.1 million fewer incidents of harm resulting from a significant decrease in adverse drug events, pressure ulcers and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI).
AHQA Executive Director, Colleen Eubanks stated, “We are proud of the role the QIN-QIOs play in convening hospitals, providers, nursing homes and home health care to help deliver these strong results in improving safety, as well as the overall quality of healthcare provided to Americans.”
In the report, Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer, said, “These results demonstrate that it’s possible to improve national patient safety performance resulting in millions of people avoiding infections and adverse events.”
CMS acting administrator Andy Slavitt stated, “All of this is both a collective success and a collective work in progress. And we are just at the beginning of change. And I believe that the most important realization we can make is that what we’ve done so far is not enough and even more of the same won’t get us to the results we need.”
Slavitt called for a dedication to better care, with a smarter payment system that keeps people healthier by focusing on three areas: meeting the needs of the new mobile patient, increasing health equity, and supporting quality by becoming an information partner.
CMS leadership continues to spearhead quality improvement efforts, not only in hospitals, but also in nursing homes, home health agencies and physician office practices, in partnership with the QIN-QIOs. The Great Plains QIN-QIO leads these efforts in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota to improve patient safety and reduce patient harm. For more information and to register to become a partner in quality improvement, visit the Great Plains QIN website.