Minnesota Hospital Association

Newsroom

December 28, 2012

MHA Newsline

In this issue:

Partnership for Patients initiative is improving patient care

Mark your calendars for MHA Advocacy Days at the Capitol

Rice Regional Dental Clinic celebrates five years of service to its community

New River Medical Center, CentraCare sign management agreement

Rural Palliative Care Networking Group to meet Jan. 29

Congressman Erik Paulsen to host job fair 

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year! The office will be closed on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Newsline will return to its regular publishing schedule on Monday, Jan. 7.

Partnership for Patients initiative is improving patient care

MHA is concluding the first year of a two-year contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Minnesota’s hospitals participating in the Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network recorded the prevention of more than 3,200 readmissions, 463 fewer patients experiencing a fall, and 158 fewer patients experiencing a pressure ulcer. The initiative builds on MHA’s award-winning Call-to-Action framework launched in 2007 and the statewide Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) campaign.  

A report issued to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) outlines the accomplishments of the participating hospitals. The 104 MHA Hospital Engagement Network participating hospitals are committed to focusing on the top 10 hospital-acquired conditions: adverse drug events; health care-associated infections (catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central-line-associated bloodstream infections, surgical site infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia); injuries from falls and immobility; obstetrical adverse events; pressure ulcers; preventable readmissions; and venous thromboembolism. Key accomplishments include:

  • A nearly 32 percent improvement in patient falls since 2010
  • 45 percent reduction in pressure ulcers since 2010
  • 3,200 fewer readmissions since 2009
  • National attention for the Road Map to a Medication Safety Program; to be rolled out to more than 500 hospitals nationwide
  • 94 percent of patients receive appropriate venous thromboembolism preventative treatments within 48 hours 

MHA has helped hospitals prevent adverse events by promoting the implementation of evidence-based strategies to reduce health care-acquired conditions. This innovative approach prevents patient harm and provides the clinical best practices as well as the infrastructure necessary to help hospitals achieve quality measurement goals and to support implementation and sustainment.    

Now that a strong infrastructure has been established, the second year of the contract will focus on consistent implementation of the established best practices and reporting on all relevant measures across hospitals to reach the goal of a 40 percent reduction in hospital-acquired conditions and a 20 percent reduction in readmissions by the end of 2013.  

Click here to read the entire 2012 Annual Report. More information about the Partnership for Patients work can be found on our website. Return to top

Mark your calendars for MHA Advocacy Days at the Capitol

Make plans to participate in MHA’s Advocacy Days at the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 30 and Wednesday, Feb. 20. This is a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with your legislators to discuss issues of importance to hospitals. The Minnesota Organization of Leaders in Nursing (MOLN) will also be at the Capitol on Feb. 20 so we encourage you to bring your nurse leaders for this Advocacy Day.  

We’ll meet at MHA at 11 a.m. for lunch and a briefing, followed by legislator visits in the afternoon. Watch for more details in the New Year. Please contact Carol Eshelman, 651-603-3539, if you need assistance in scheduling your meetings with your representative and senator. Return to top

Rice Regional Dental Clinic celebrates five years of service to its community

The Rice Regional Dental Clinic in Willmar, which operates as a partnership between Rice Memorial Hospital and the University of Minnesota, celebrated its fifth anniversary last week. The clinic is a unique delivery model joining medical and dental services. It serves as a training site for University of Minnesota dentistry and dental hygiene students—the first of its kind in the U.S.—and provides quality dental care for low-income and underserved residents in west central Minnesota. The clinic serves a 17-county region and to date the clinic has seen nearly 7,000 patients and provided 79,000 dental services and procedures. More than 90 percent of the patients are public program patients that have difficulty accessing dental care elsewhere. At its anniversary celebration, the clinic announced the receipt of a $175,000 grant from Delta Dental of Minnesota to help support operations.  

Congratulations to Rice Regional Dental Clinic on five years of service to its community! Return to top

New River Medical Center, CentraCare sign management agreement

CentraCare Health System will begin managing operations of New River Medical Center in Monticello on Jan. 1, 2013 under an agreement signed by both organizations. New River voted in November to affiliate with St. Cloud-based CentraCare.  

“New River Medical Center carefully analyzed the benefits that a health system affiliation would bring to our patients and community,” said Marshall Smith, CEO of New River Medical Center.  “We believe CentraCare Health System is the best partner for our organization, and we are looking forward to working together to expand our local health care services for our patients and their families.”  

“We are excited to partner with New River Medical Center to strengthen and grow health care services in the Monticello/Big Lake areas,” said Terry Pladson, MD, president of CentraCare Health System. Return to top

Rural Palliative Care Networking Group to meet Jan. 29

The Rural Palliative Care Networking Group will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. – noon to discuss providing palliative care to veterans. As rural American veterans face life-limiting conditions or even end of life, they have unique and special needs. Learn about these needs and how several rural palliative care programs are assisting veterans in their communities.  

You can participate in person at Glacial Ridge Hospital in Glenwood or via conference call (conference call information will be provided after registration). There is no fee to participate, but registration is required. To register, contact Mary Montury, 952-853-8541 by Jan. 22. Return to top

Congressman Erik Paulsen to host job fair

Hospitals are invited to participate in Congressman Erik Paulsen’s Fourth Annual Job Fair at Normandale Community College in Bloomington on April 19. For registration information or questions, contact Luke Hellier. Return to top