Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – March 1, 2004
March 1, 2004
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Computer simulation assesses PI design prior to implementation
The latest requirements from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) call for more detailed evaluation of processes than ever before, causing one health care system to look to industry for the tools needed to respond appropriately. -
Flow-gorithms: New tools for process improvement
At the heart of the decision to use computer simulation modeling at Overlook was the need to answer one basic question: Will the flow-gorithms work? -
Simulation shows promise for health care modeling
The use of computer simulation modeling at Overlook Hospital was really a very simple application of a simulation model, asserts Dan Krupka, PhD, managing principal of Sherborn, MA-based Twin Peaks Group LLC. In fact, he says, the more complex the process, the greater the need for computer simulation. -
Holistic wound center takes DM approach
In just two short years, the Jefferson Regional Medical Center Wound Care Center in Jefferson Hills, PA, has achieved impressive net revenues and recorded a healing rate nearly twice as fast as that achieved through conventional wound care. -
Best practices guide statewide QI project
In what its sponsors say is a first-of-its-kind program in the United States, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has shown that quality of care can be improved significantly for nursing home residents through a systematic and consistent implementation of best practices protocols. -
Physician buy-in helps PI team reduce LOS
Winning physician buy-in, one of the toughest challenges in any process improvement (PI) endeavor, was the key to success in a PI project undertaken by Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, MD. The project, which targeted clinical PI in pneumonia, realized a reduction in average length of stay (LOS) from 5.7 days to five days between 2001 and 2003, along with significant drops in resource utilization. -
Using drug samples can hinder quality
The University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers in Ann Arbor, as well as a number of other academic health centers, prohibits distributing drug samples to patients. -
News Briefs
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has released two reports that represent the first national, comprehensive effort to measure the quality of health care in America and differences in access to health care services for priority populations. -
Correction
In our cover story in the November 2003 issue, Tania Bridgeman, RN, PhD, director of clinical path development of the University of California at Irvine Medical Center, was quoted as using a clinical documentation system called TDF from Atlanta-based Eclypisis.