Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – August 1, 2003
August 1, 2003
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Study reveals benchmarking flaws of many report cards, quality rankings
Hospital rankings and report cards are growing in number and importance, but a new University of Michigan study suggests these measures may be inaccurate if they dont take into account the high number of very sick patients that large hospitals receive as transfers from other hospitals. -
ADA, Kaiser using modeling in DM efforts
A new web site designed by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in Alexandria, VA, and Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA, will recommend customized treatment plans for diabetes patients. The plan uses a complex software program called Archimedes to model health care outcomes. -
Hotel shows health system keys to service excellence
As part of a major ongoing effort to pursue service excellence, The Great Neck, NY-based North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System has entered into an agreement with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, of Atlanta, on a program aimed at fostering a corporate culture in which patients are given the same respect, attention, and courtesy as guests at a luxury hotel. -
Nurses and pharmacists partner for patient safety
Seeking a shared vision for safe medication use in hospitals in the face of continuing work force shortages, leaders of five nursing and pharmaceutical organizations recently gathered in Washington, DC, to discuss how they could work together to achieve this common goal. -
JCAHO OKs alternative safety goal approaches
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, has published examples
of acceptable alternative approaches to complying with its 2003 National Patient Safety Goal recommendations. In July 2002, the Joint Commissions Board of Commissioners approved the 2003 National Patient Safety Goals the first to be issued by JCAHO. -
QI project cuts patients’ chronic pain dramatically
A quality improvement project at a Michigan long-term care facility resulted in a decrease in the prevalence of chronic pain among its residents from 33% in March 2000 to 18% now.