Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network

ABOUT

Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the national Partnership for Patients initiative to make healthcare safer and less costly by targeting and reducing the millions of preventable injuries and complications from health care acquired conditions. The Partnership for Patients set two crisp aims:

• Reduce hospital acquired conditions by 40%, and
• Reduce preventable hospital readmissions by 20% by 2013

Iowa’s hospitals rallied behind this call to action, with 100% of hospitals pledging their commitment to the Partnership.

Shortly after the launch of the campaign, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center launched a nationwide public-private collaboration termed the Hospital Engagement Networks (HEN) to identify and create innovative solutions designed to reduce patient harm and improve care coordination. CMS awarded 26 organizations a two-year contract to help identify the key improvements and spread initiatives across their defined population.

The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative has been awarded the sole Iowa-based contract to serve Iowa hospitals in this campaign. IHC will work with the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) and Telligen, Iowa’s Medicare quality improvement organization, to implement the program and serve as subcontractors. 

The Impact of the HEN on Iowa's Healthcare System

Hospitals and the healthcare community will continue to receive the proven and dedicated efforts IHC has provided in the past. Over the next two years, the HEN will focus on 10 key areas that will seek to improve hospital performance on the following quality markers: adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated blood stream infections, injuries from falls, adverse obstetrical events, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, venous thromboembolism, and preventable hospital readmissions.

The HEN will include 116 of Iowa’s community hospitals, as well as five hospitals accross state lines affiliated with Alegent Health System. Each hospital leader will designate contacts to lead hospital-based improvements and serve as the point contact with IHC. Hospitals can expect to receive increased access and participation in quality improvement processes that will influence the future of healthcare. Some of the opportunities include:

• Participation in face-to-face Learning Communities throughout the year to share and spread best practices in the applicable areas
• Topically-focused webinars from content experts
• A web-based metric reporting and tracking database, developed by IHA, will provide real-time information to lead process improvement interventions
• An Improvement Advisor will be assigned to each hospital to serve and assist with the work currently being done at the hospital
• Leadership resources to help improve the culture of safety
• Learning networks that will allow hospitals to share success stories and struggles in an effort to raise the standard of healthcare
• Access to a Lean Process Improvement expert through educational opportunities and on-site coaching
• Technical assistance, through Telligen, for hospitals that would like to have content improvement experts work with hospital staff
• Resources to assist hospitals in physician engagement strategies

Iowa has a reputation for delivering high quality care to patients. The HEN will provide a voice for those best practices and successful interventions already deployed by hospitals. IHC hopes to serve as a resource for hospitals to spread these interventions and provide evidence-based best practices to facilitate the improvement process. The HEN will possess a unique advantage with the ability and willingness of Iowa hospitals to collaborate and engage in a statewide effort to provide the most effective and efficient healthcare in the nation.