Quality

Health Care in Pa: Pioneers in Patient Safety and Quality

On November 27, 1999, the Institute of Medicine released its report, To Err is Human. The report suggested that American health care could be improved and that more medical mistakes could be avoided. The report sparked an important national conversation on the issue as well as spurred hospitals' ongoing efforts to provide the safest, best health care possible. In Pennsylvania, however, health care leaders and policymakers had been focusing on these issues all along.

Pennsylvania hospitals have been leaders in health care quality and safety for decades. Strong partnerships between hospital leaders, physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals and policymakers, along with innovative thinking, have led to major improvements in health care delivery.

Pennsylvanians should be proud of these safety and quality firsts:

• The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, formed in 2002, was the first organization of its kind that identifies problems and recommends solutions that promote patient safety in health care facilities.
• The Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance, a joint effort of the state's health care providers and the four Blue Cross insurers, is a collaborative effort to create online access to multiple data sources that enables consumers to compare hospital performance, allows health care professionals to evaluate and improve the quality of their patient care, and helps insurers to evaluate the performance of their provider networks.
• Pennsylvania was the first state to require the public reporting of all health care-associated infections and released the nation's first hospital-specific report on health care-associated infections.

In addition, hospitals across the state are participating in national, state, and regional patient safety and quality efforts, including:

• A statewide collaborative effort of hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies to reduce patient pressure ulcers.
• A national collaborative effort for hospitals to reduce the occurrence of central line-associated bloodstream infections for patients in intensive care units.
• Regional collaboratives working to reduce the incidence of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylcoccus aureus) bacteria in both health care and community settings.
• A community-based, cross-setting project to help hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and physician offices improve coordination across the continuum of care.
• National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, a program for hospitals and surgeons to measure and improve the quality of surgical care.
• The 100,000 Lives campaign, where more than 100 hospitals in Pennsylvania (and 3,100 nationwide) implemented six proven care techniques that saved an estimated 122,000 lives in 18 months.
• The 5 Million Lives campaign, where more than 100 hospitals in Pennsylvania have made a commitment to improve patient safety faster than ever and are making the changes necessary to prevent five million incidents of medical harm over two years.

These are just a few examples of how Pennsylvania hospitals are continuously striving to improve patient safety and quality. Many other quality improvement activities are underway across the nation, state, and region, and even more are taking place in hospitals across the state. Employees, volunteers, and trustees can be proud that Pennsylvania hospitals have been, and continue to be, pioneers in quality and patient safety.