INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The results are in after a three-year campaign to prevent harm and reduce readmissions for hospital patients across the nation, and participating Indiana hospitals are showing significant progress. The new findings come just as hospitals around the country celebrate National Hospital Week beginning May 10 – a celebration of the men and women who support the health of their communities through dedication and compassionate care.

From 2012-2014, 116 Indiana hospitals partnered with the Indiana Hospital Association (IHA) in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Partnership for Patients campaign, which was launched in 2012. Guided by the American Hospital Association and Health Research & Educational Trust’s Hospital Engagement Network, the goal was to make care safer by decreasing hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and reducing hospital readmissions by 20 percent. 

“When it comes to patient safety, Indiana hospitals don’t compete with one another – they collaborate to share best practices, address regional needs and work together on quality improvements for the sake of their patients and the communities they serve,” said Doug Leonard, president of IHA. “We are extremely proud of the results achieved during the Partnership for Patients campaign that highlight the tremendous accomplishments of our hospitals and reflect leadership commitment to quality and patient safety.”

Participating hospitals worked to improve care in 11 patient safety areas of focus, such as early elective deliveries and pressure ulcers. Staff participated in educational meetings and trainings to increase improvement capacity and provided data tracking and reporting for each topic to encourage further awareness and monitoring.

According to IHA’s Indiana Patient Safety Center, 4,690 harms were prevented by Indiana hospitals, resulting in an estimated $22.3 million in health care cost savings during the three-year period. This includes a total of 1,254 unnecessary readmissions with a cost savings of $11 million. Furthermore, $2 million was saved through the prevention of 110 venous thromboembolisms (VTE), the leading cause of complications and preventable hospital deaths due to blood clots that may form as a result of limited patient mobility during hospital stays.

The three-year period of the Partnership for Patients campaign also produced significant improvement by Indiana hospitals to reduce early elective deliveries, which can put mothers and babies at risk. By prohibiting the scheduling of early elective deliveries before 39 weeks, Indiana hospitals decreased early elective deliveries by 76 percent and more than 50 birthing hospitals were recognized by IHA and the March of Dimes.

“The outstanding work of hospital staff to achieve such results is to be commended. IHA is encouraging all Indiana hospitals to continue that work in support of quality improvement and patient safety,” said Martin Padgett, president and CEO of Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville and chairman of the IHA Board of Directors. “As health care leaders, it’s up to us to engage and inspire others to create cultures of patient safety and reliable systems of care that will ensure patients receive optimal, safe care through the state.”

IHA launched statewide quality improvement efforts to achieve the shared goal of making care safer and more patient-centered. At 116, Indiana had the second highest number of participating hospitals with the AHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network, second only to California at 149.

As a result of the partnerships formed amongst Indiana hospitals to address patient safety and quality, IHA reported a number of accomplishments during the three-year campaign, including:

• Offering robust patient and family engagement education and resources to Indiana hospitals, translating to three times more patients and/or family members included on hospital committees across Indiana
  
• Engaging pharmacists in studying and preventing adverse drug events in multiple regions of Indiana
• Focusing around the early identification and treatment of sepsis and septic shock
  
• Identifying shared challenges and working together to ensure patients safely transition between points of care
  
• Fostering cultural transformation at all levels of organizations to embed a safety culture
  
• Promoting transparency throughout the state by sharing hospital-specific quality and patient safety data

Access additional patient safety findings here.

IHA continues to support efforts of quality improvement and patient safety through the Indiana Patient Safety Center (IPSC) and 11 regional patient safety coalitions throughout the state of Indiana. Additionally, IHA is partnering with the American Hospital Association's Health Research and Educational Trust to bring about further improvements in patient safety and support national initiatives to make health care more safe.