Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks to continue patient safety efforts started under the Partnership for Patients initiative
The Kansas Healthcare Collaborative has been selected to continue leading hospital patient safety improvement efforts statewide, announced Kendra Tinsley, executive director. KHC will be working on behalf of the Kansas Hospital Association as one of 31 state hospital associations partnering with the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) of the American Hospital Association to lead this work.
Over the next two to three years, HRET and its partners will participate in a new round of a national program that has been successful in reducing patient harm and readmissions. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday announced $347 million in awards to continue patient safety efforts through the new Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIINs).
“KHC embraces the opportunity to continue its patient safety work with Kansas hospitals through the newly announced Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks,” Tinsley said. “This initiative has been an extraordinary example of what happens when we collaborate to make our care systems safer and better, using our health care dollars more effectively.”
The HIIN contracts will build upon the collective momentum of the Hospital Engagement Networks and Quality Improvement Organizations to reduce patient harm and readmissions. Through 2019, the HIINs will work to achieve a 20 percent decrease in overall patient harm and a 12 percent reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions from 2014 baselines. In addition, efforts to address health equity for Medicare beneficiaries will be central to the HIIN efforts. CMS will monitor and evaluate the activities to ensure HIINs are generating results and improving patient safety.
“We have made significant progress in keeping patients safe – an estimated 2.1 million fewer patients harmed, 87,000 lives saved, and nearly $20 billion in cost-savings from 2010 to 2014 – and we are focused on accelerating improvement efforts,” said Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS acting principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer. “The work of the Hospital Improvement and Innovation Networks will allow us to continue to improve health care safety across the nation and reduce readmissions at a national scale – keeping people as safe and healthy as possible.”
CMS selected 16 organizations to lead HIINs. They are (listed in alphabetical order):
- Carolinas Healthcare System
- Dignity Health
- Healthcare Association of New York State
- HealthInsight
- The Health Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association
- Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey
- Health Services Advisory Group
- The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
- Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
- Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Health Foundation
- Minnesota Hospital Association
- Ohio Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety
- Ohio Hospital Association
- Premier, Inc.
- Vizient, Inc.
- Washington State Hospital Association
The Partnership for Patients model is one of the first models established in 2011 to be tested under the authority of section 1115A of the Social Security Act (the Act) with the goal of reducing program expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care. Since the launch of the Partnership for Patients and the work of Hospital Engagement Networks in collaboration with many other stakeholders, the vast majority of U.S. hospitals have delivered results as demonstrated by the achievement of unprecedented national reductions in harm. CMS believes that the upcoming work of the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks, working as part of the Quality Improvement Organization’s work to improve patient safety and the quality of care in the Medicare program, will continue the great strides made in improving care provided to beneficiaries.
For more information on the Partnership for Patients and the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks, please visit: partnershipforpatients.cms.gov.
KHC is a provider-led 501(c)3 organization with a mission to transform health care through patient-centered initiatives that improve quality, safety and value. Founded in 2008 by the Kansas Hospital Association and the Kansas Medical Society, KHC embodies the commitment of two of the state’s leading health care provider groups to act as a resource and continuously enhance the quality of care provided to Kansans. For more information about the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative and its initiatives, visit www.khconline.org.
For more information on the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative, please visit: www.khconline.org.