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Press Releases
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Press ReleaseDelaware Valley Hospitals Announce Patient Safety AdvancesPartnership for Patient Care announces results of second-year initiative Philadelphia, PA - January 22, 2008 - The Partnership for Patient Care, a quality and patient safety effort led by southeastern Pennsylvania hospitals, today announced significant improvements in three key ways to keep patients safe: preventing falls, protecting against blood clots, and monitoring medications to prevent harmful drug interactions and dosing errors. These results were announced today when more than 100 senior hospital executives met at the ECRI Institute in Plymouth Meeting, PA to review results from the second year of the three-year Partnership. With more than $1 million in financial support from Independence Blue Cross, the Partnership unites the region’s hospitals with the goal of making the Philadelphia area one of the safest places in the nation to receive health care. By working together to identify and adopt the most effective, clinically proven methods to improve patient safety — known as evidence-based medicine — hospitals support each other to improve the quality and safety of care. The Partnership is overseen by the Health Care Improvement Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports innovative efforts to improve health services and promote best practices and patient safety in the Delaware Valley. In 2007, hospitals throughout the five-county region achieved:
During 2007, the Partnership also held workshops to help hospitals improve the safe use of anticoagulant medications, labeled “high alert” because they carry a risk of serious complications, and to raise awareness about the threat of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (or MRSA) through the Fight MRSA! Alliance. The Alliance is the nation’s first regional collaborative of hospitals, city and county public health departments, nursing homes, and schools dedicated to identifying, preventing, containing, and treating MRSA infections. “Protecting patients involves more than reducing the rate of infections. It requires examining the whole experience of a patient's stay in the hospital, like the risk of a fall, that can cause serious harm,” said Kate Flynn, FACHE, president of The Health Care Improvement Foundation. “The Partnership for Patient Care is a unique collaboration among hospitals, to share and implement patient safety practices that are proven to work. Overall, we believe this is the best way to ensure patients receive the safest care.” “Independence Blue Cross is dedicated to improving access to high-quality health care for our members, and this partnership with our area’s hospitals helps make our region an increasingly safe place to receive health care,” said Joseph A. Frick, president and chief executive officer for Independence Blue Cross, the region’s leading insurer. “The collaborative approach of the Partnership for Patient Care has already produced solid progress in improving patient safety, which benefits our members and the whole community. We are very proud to be part of this innovative and exciting partnership.” “The Partnership for Patient Care has been an effective catalyst for patient safety efforts,” said Eric Dobkin, MD, vice president of quality and patient safety, Crozer-Keystone Health System. “Without this program, many hospitals would be working in isolation, needlessly duplicating the process of researching and developing evidence-based practices and protocols. The program’s tools and template policies allowed us to more rapidly adapt and implement new patient safety interventions at our hospital.” For 2008, the Partnership has identified several areas of study, including “wrong site” surgery, prevention of pressure ulcers, and additional work on the Fight MRSA! Alliance, which launched in November. About The Health Care Improvement Foundation About Independence Blue Cross About ECRI Institute
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