UW Medicine announced today that two of its hospitals, Northwest Hospital & Medical Center and Valley Medical Center, were recognized for outstanding achievement in improving patient safety at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) in Seattle.
Northwest Hospital & Medical Center and Valley Medical Center earned the 2014 Washington State Hospital Association “Achieving Best Care” Award for their efforts to decrease patient harm through their participation in the Partnership for Patients national initiative, a nationwide collaborative effort to reduce the number of hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and hospital readmissions by 20 percent by the end of 2014.
The initiative focuses on reducing harm in 10 key areas:
1. Adverse drug events
2. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
3. Central line-associated blood stream infections
4. Injuries from falls and immobility
5. Obstetrical adverse events
6. Pressure ulcers
7. Surgical site infections
8. Venous thromboembolism
9. Ventilator-associated pneumonia
10. Preventable readmissions
The “Achieving Best Care” Award was presented to hospitals that achieved the highest scores on harm reduction in the key areas. The scoring was based on the size of the hospital, the key strategies in which they were participating, and if they were in the top one fourth of high performing hospitals in the state. All of the top performers reached the Partnership for Patients goal of reducing harm by 40% and readmissions by 20% and many also reached a goal of zero harm over a sustained period.
Northwest Hospital & Medical Center and Valley Medical Center are among 14 WSHA hospitals to receive this award.
“Patient safety and quality is a top priority in our Patients Are First program at all UW Medicine hospitals & clinics,” said Johnese Spisso, chief health system officer for UW Medicine. “We are honored to be recognized for the excellent care delivered by our physicians and staff and appreciate their continued efforts to achieve the Triple Aim.”
“Everyone at Northwest Hospital strives to deliver high quality care and service each day, to every patient. Patient safety is a crucial component of excellent patient care, and I am proud that our efforts have been recognized by the Washington State Hospital Association,” said Cindy Hecker, Northwest Hospital’s executive director. “This award is a tribute to the dedication of all of our staff to the safety and well-being of our patients.”
“Every day at Valley Medical Center we continually monitor the care we provide to our patients to ensure each of our patients receives the safest, most responsible care possible,” said Rich Roodman, CEO at Valley Medical Center. “At Valley, patient safety has been and continues to be our number one priority.”
“The Partnership for Patients contract has enabled us to make impressive improvements in patient safety in all the participating hospitals,” said WSHA Senior Vice President for Patient Safety Carol Wagner. “Through extensive education, best-practice implementation, and rapid response to problems, the hospitals doing this work are helping to test and model the best ways to keep patients safe in the hospital. It benefits their patients, but it also benefits all patients.”
PARTNERSHIP FOR PATIENTS
The Partnership for Patients initiative is being lead locally by the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) and nationally by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Washington State Hospital Association was one of 26 health care organizations in the U.S. to be awarded a Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) contract by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2011.
As a Partnership for Patients HEN, WSHA and the Washington State Medical Association have partnered to support hospitals and medical practices in Washington and Oregon in their efforts to reduce patient harm. By joining this initiative, hospitals and health care providers across the nation pledged to make health care safer, more reliable and less costly – ultimately saving thousands of lives and millions of dollars. WSHA provides member hospitals with trainings, data, tools and other resources to help them reach these patient safety goals. More information on the WSHA Partnership for Patients can be found at wsha.org/partnershipforpatients.cfm.
