Are You Partnering for Patient Safety? Federal Funding is Available

  

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A HealthStream Partner Blog Post from Medical Simulation Corporation

Earlier this year, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced the launch of “Partnership for Patients,” a program focused on patient safety. As the healthcare industry is seeing a shift in reduced payments from government and private insurance companies, Partnership for Patients aims to bring together major hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses, patient advocates as well as state and federal governments in a shared effort to strengthen patient safety by making hospital care less error-prone, more reliable, and less costly.

 The Goals of Partnership for Patients are:

1. Keep patients from getting injured or sicker (by reducing hospital acquired conditions by 40%)
2. Helping patients heal without complication (by reducing hospital readmissions by 20% (compared to 2010 stats).

These goals stem from the following startling patient safety statistics:

HACs (Healthcare-Acquired Conditions):

• At any given time, about one in every 20 patients has an infection related to his/her hospital care
• On average, one in seven Medicare beneficiaries is harmed in the course of his/her care
• The mean length of stay among patients who acquired an infection during their hospital stay was 21.6 days. The mean length of stay for patients who did not acquire an infection was 4.9 days
• Patients who contract infections in the hospital are much more likely to be readmitted

Readmissions:

• About 60% of hospitals’ costs are generated by readmitted patients, yet readmissions occupy on 1 of 6 beds
• Nearly one in five Medicare patients discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days
• Medicare patients acquiring infections are more likely to be readmitted than those without infection

Proud to be a HealthStream partner, Medical Simulation Corporation (MSC) is recognized for simulation-based education and training programs for physicians and hospital staff. We have researched and developed educational programs based on nationally recognized guidelines to address some of the most costly Hospital Acquired Conditions (HACs) affecting healthcare and patient safety today.

MSC has pledged to provide information, tools and resources to support the aims of improving people’s health and reduce the costs of care by improving care quality and patient safety. As we strive to meet our commitment, we would like to hear from you about this important subject.

Is Your Hospital Partnering for Patients and Improving Patient Safety?

Do you feel your hospital has the tools to prepare you to address the HAC and readmission goals of Partnership for Patients?

Is your department going to be providing tools to help your hospital reduce HAC’s and readmission?

If so, what tools are you using and are they proving to provide a positive return on investment?

If not, have you identified the barriers to meeting the Partnership for Patients goals (funding, communication, education, patient safety improvements, etc. for your hospital?

We invite you to share your feedback about patient safety with us! You may complete a 4-question survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BKJ9DPY or email us directly at HealthcareGroup@medsimulation.com.

Look for our next blog to provide a summary of your feedback!

Learn more about MSC’s SimSuite courseware offerings via HealthStream at http://catalog.healthstream.com/Pages/Category.aspx?category=MedicalSimulationCorporation%28MSC%29.

Learn More about the Partnership for Patients at http://www.healthcare.gov/compare/partnership-for-patients/index.html.