100 Kentucky hospitals join network to improve patient safety, fight hospital-acquired conditions such as infections

To help hospitals reduce preventable readmissions and hospital-acquired infections, 100 of Kentucky’s 131 hospitals have joined the Kentucky Hospital Association‘s hospital engagement network. The group’s goal is to help hospitals find ways to improve patient safety, reduce readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions such as infections, and share learning among hospitals.

The network hopes to reduce the incidence of adverse drug events; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; central-line-associated bloodstream infections; injuries from falls and immobility; obstetrical adverse events; pressure ulcers; surgical site infections; venous thromboembolisms or deep vein clots; ventilator-associated pneumonia; and preventable readmissions.

The two-year project is supported by a contract with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of the “Partnership for Patients” campaign, launched earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. The goal for the project is to reduce preventable  readmissions
that occur within 30 days of discharge by 20 percent and hospital-acquired infections by 40 percent
(compared to 2010) by the end of 2013.

“The commitment to patient safety and quality by hospitals across Kentucky has resulted in lives saved, fewer complications and reduced costs,” said Mark J. Neff, chair of the KHA board of trustees and president and CEO of St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead. For a list of hospitals participating in the network, click here.