Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – May 1, 2004
May 1, 2004
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Benchmarking and safety: Natural fit if you know what to do with data
Given the steady drumbeat for improving patient safety from diverse corners of the QI world, its only logical for quality professionals to use all the tools at their disposal and that includes benchmarking. However, experts warn, while benchmarking can prove extremely valuable in your efforts to boost patient safety, those efforts can be for naught if you arent careful about your decisions concerning what to benchmark, what your goals are, and how you interpret your data. -
Six Sigma success: 100% compliance in 3 months
A Six Sigma project at Sewickley (PA) Valley Hospital has achieved dramatic results including 100% compliance in one process in just three short months. -
Six Sigma: How it’s different
A Six Sigma project is not just another QI initiative, says Richard Beaver, vice president of quality for Heritage Valley Health System, which includes Sewickley (PA) Valley Hospital, Heritage Valley Hospital, 49 physician offices, the Moon Surgery Center, and 14 community satellite facilities. -
Hospitalists save $2.5 million and decrease LOS
Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, FL, winner of this years Malcolm Baldrige award for quality, has saved $2.56 million in two years as a result of its inpatient management program. The program, developed and operated by Cogent Healthcare Inc., an Irvine, CA-based inpatient management company, also was successful in improving the quality of patient care and in meeting the hospitals standards of patient satisfaction. -
Keys to hospitalist success: Right docs, incentives, tools
How do you ensure a successful hospitalist program? You find the right physicians, incentivize them the right way, and give them the tools they need to meet their goals, says Ron Greeno, MD, FCCP, chief medical officer for Cogent Healthcare in Los Angeles. Its our formula for success. -
AHRQ tool designed to improve CAP clinical care
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, MD, has unveiled a clinical decision-support tool for personal digital assistants (PDAs) that is designed to help clinicians deliver evidence-based medicine at the point of care. AHRQs new Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator is an interactive application for Palm Pilots and other PDAs to help physicians decide whether to hospitalize patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). This is the first of what AHRQ anticipates will be several such clinical decision support tools for PDAs. -
Leapfrog standards are hard for hospitals to meet
While The Leapfrog Groups ambitious campaign to improve patient safety in hospitals has sparked national awareness, few hospitals are close to meeting the groups standards for computerized prescriptions, specially trained intensive care unit (ICU) physicians, and volume thresholds for certain high-risk procedures, according to a study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).