My Photo
Name:
Location: Plainfield, NH, United States

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Massachusetts Hospitals Leading the Way on Healthcare Quality

Leading the way on healthcare

IMPROVING the quality of health care saves lives. That's the lesson behind last week's announcement by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement that more than 120,000 such lives were saved nationally because hospitals followed proven interventions that deliver safer and more effective care.

All 72 Massachusetts acute care hospitals participated in this campaign. Their success -- together with the state's landmark health care reform law that will focus on many of the best practices used by the institute through the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council -- puts the state in a unique position to lead the country in delivering top-quality health services.

Don Berwick, president of the Cambridge-based institute, explained that, over the past 18 months, a national effort by 3,000 hospitals across the country prevented the unnecessary deaths of more than 122,300 patients.

The effort supports interventions that make a real difference for patients. In many cases, that just means getting hospitals and front-line health workers to agree to follow practices that have been shown to eliminate error and save lives.

Some policies and procedures that the institute and the participating hospitals have put in place are relatively simple. For example, they are committed to giving patients who are at risk for heart attacks aspirin and beta-blockers. They are making sure that patients on ventilators have their heads raised between 30 to 45 degrees at all times to prevent them from developing pneumonia. They are implementing rapid-response teams at the first sign that a patient's condition is worsening. And they are making sure that doctors and nurses working with patients who are receiving medicines and fluids from central lines clean the patients' skin with a certain type of antiseptic.

While these procedures are not revolutionary in concept, they require significant collaborative effort and commitment. Taken together, these everyday actions can represent a sea change in patient outcomes for hospitals. Because of the size, diversity, and complexity of the health care system -- with all its insurers, providers, caregivers, and facilities -- it is difficult to disseminate best practices that improve patient health. And yet the success that the institute has fostered shows that it can be done.

It is fitting that every acute-care facility in the state is participating in this process. Massachusetts has already shown it can lead the nation in achieving better health care. Passing the legislation that made universal access to health care the standard wasn't easy. It took bringing together political leaders from all sides, business leaders, consumer and patient groups, insurers, hospitals, doctors, and nurses.

And there is more that can and must be done. The state Health Care Quality and Cost Council, established by the landmark legislation, can further improve the delivery of medical care and do so in a way that restrains the growth in spending. The success of the institute's effort shows what can be accomplished when all insurers and hospitals collaboratively choose concrete goals that improve the safety and effectiveness of care.

Massachusetts has the best health care system in the country -- but it can get better. Given the high caliber of the hospitals and medical schools, the commitment of doctors and nurses, and the pioneering spirit of organizations such as the institute and others that are willing to point out where the system is failing and fix it, Massachusetts is in a unique position to fundamentally transform it.

The institute has shown that improving the system will save lives. And so with the wind of reform at our backs, universal health coverage within reach, and progress not only possible but demonstrable, now is the time to commit to making Massachusetts the standard bearer for quality health care for all.

Cleve L. Killingsworth is president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home