A challenge all hospitals are facing is how do we ensure that we get paid to provide the care that we do. "With health-care reform, reimbursement is getting more difficult for (repeating) some of the same (procedures). Next fall, the federal government is expected to begin reducing reimbursements by 1 percent for hospitals that make avoidable medical errors. He concedes that reimbursement figured into the goal of improving care. That was a key element, making sure everyone understands what we do and what this leads to as far as patients are concerned - fewer infections, better outcomes, more patient satisfaction." In addition, he says it's a mistake when "we ask people to do things, but we don't give them the why, the rationale. And there's the accountability issue of making everyone understand that we are responsible for this care." But we've made it part of the culture, part of the everyday work flow. Many hospitals, he says, "have protocols, paper trails and concurrent reviews. What it cost most is investing in the time with employees to make sure they understand why we do what we do, why it's so important to make it a priority." "Actually, it was pretty low budget," he says. This is something we've been concentrating on for several years as a way to improve and get to these ends."ĭan Kernebeck, director of quality at Gateway Regional, which has 382 beds, says improving a hospital need not cost a bundle. But we're doing everything we can to achieve the best possible outcome for our patients in terms of quality and safety. "I honestly didn't know that the Joint Commission was doing these recognitions. Michael Handler, chief medical officer for the 127-bed SSM St. "I wasn't surprised by the outcome," said Dr. Some administrators say they are honored to see their hospitals on the commission's list, but they add that they never set out to improve care as a means toward recognition. Several VA hospitals, including one in Chicago, also made the commission's quality-care list. The Joint Commission says its rankings also relate to how well hospitals use evidence-based procedures associated with good patient outcomes. Some measurements sound like no-brainers: Was the heart patient given an aspirin upon arrival? Were heart failure patients given sufficient discharge instructions? Was a blood culture taken before giving out the first antibiotic for pneumonia? Did the patient get an antibiotic an hour before surgery? Such questions suggest that good outcomes can depend as much on basic procedures as on high-tech medicine. ![]() Joseph and Gateway Regional, scored high on care in four of the five conditions. It gave high quality and safety rankings to 405 hospitals.Ī hospital had to show high performance care for at least one of these five conditions to rank at the top. The Joint Commission's findings are based on how hospitals performed on nearly two dozen measurements relating to five conditions - heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical infection prevention, and children's asthma care. Missing from the list are many highly regarded hospital systems, including Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Massachusetts General in Boston, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. For the first time this year, it decided to rank hospitals, and its report is noteworthy partly for what it doesn't say. But the influential Joint Commission has singled out these two health facilities for excellent care for several health conditions, including heart attack and pneumonia.Īs the body that accredits hospitals, the commission's word carries weight. ![]() Nor is Gateway Regional Medical Center in Granite City. News and World Report's list of best hospitals.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |