Houston Medical Center named to Georgia Hospital Association Hospital Engagement Network Safety Leaders Circle

Special to the Journal

Houston Medical Center has been named to the Georgia

Hospital Association’s (GHA) Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) Safety Leaders

Circle, which recognizes hospitals’ improvements in patient care throughout the

2012 year. Houston Medical Center is one of 13 hospitals in Georgia to place in

the Elite Circle, the highest on the list.

Houston Medical Center is a participant in the GHA HEN, an

initiative begun last year that is part of the Centers for Medicare &

Medicaid Service’s (CMS) Partnership for Patients.  GHA, through its Partnership for Health and Accountability

(PHA), is one of 27 organizations nationally to be awarded federal funding to

coordinate the implementation of a series of projects with hospitals. The goals

of these projects are to reduce hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) by 40

percent and hospital readmissions by 20 percent by the end of 2013. CMS states

that it has the potential to save 60,000 lives annually and create $35 billion

in savings to the nation’s health care system. Additionally, it can help

prevent 1.8 million injuries and 1.6 million patient readmissions.

“Thanks to the leadership and commitment of Houston Medical

Center, we are well on our way to achieving the significant life-saving goals

of this important initiative,” said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “We are

proud to recognize the hard work of the Houston Medical Center staff and

applaud their efforts and commitment to ensuring the reduction of infections

and readmissions.”

To achieve these goals, there are major directives from CMS

regarding improved care in 10 core measures: Four are related to

hospital-acquired infections (HAI); four are related to HACs; one is related to

obstetrics (OB) and trying to eliminate elective deliveries before 39 weeks;

and one is related to transition of care and reduction of readmissions. As part

of their participation in the GHA HEN, hospitals selected two of these areas on

which to focus in 2012. Scores for the Safety Leaders Circle are based on

several criteria, including a database that measures hospitals’ improvement in

their respective selected areas.

“Our employees are committed to providing excellent care to

our patients,” states Melinda Hartley, DNP, RN, NE-BC, Vice President, Patient

Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer for Houston Healthcare. “In addition to

our routine methods for reducing all patient harm, we developed very specific

targeted interventions to reduce readmissions, catheter associated urinary

tract infections and central line blood stream infections. Our employees

implemented various strategies which resulted in improved patient care.”

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