Through the Partnership for Patients initiative – a nationwide public-private collaboration that began in 2011 to reduce preventable hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and 30-day readmissions by 20 percent – MHA will participate in a second round of Hospital Engagement Networks to continue working to improve patient care in the hospital setting.    

“We are pleased to continue our work to improve the quality and safety of care of Minnesotans through the Partnership for Patients initiative,” said Rahul Koranne, M.D., senior vice president of clinical affairs and chief medical officer, MHA. “Our Hospital Engagement Network has made tremendous strides toward the partnership’s goals of reducing hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions, as well as reducing harm across the board. Collectively, our 115 participating hospitals have prevented nearly 15,500 patients from being harmed and saved more than $112 million in health care costs. Our selection as a returning participant in the Partnership for Patients will allow us to build on these efforts to make a positive difference in the health of communities statewide.”   

MHA has been involved with the Partnership for Patients initiative since its inception, serving as a national leader and significantly reducing hospital-acquired conditions. Participation increased from 113 to 115 member hospitals in 2014. MHA also received a contract for the 15-month, rigorous Leading Edge Advanced Practice Topics (LEAPT) program. As one of only six Hospital Engagement Networks to receive the LEAPT contract, the funding allowed Minnesota hospitals to further expand patient safety and quality efforts by creating tested strategies to measure and improve outcomes for patients.   

Since the launch of the Partnership for Patients, the vast majority of U.S. hospitals and many other stakeholders have joined the collaborative effort and delivered results. The Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that 50,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and approximately $12 billion in health care costs were saved as a result of a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2013. Nationally, patient safety is improving, resulting in 1.3 million adverse events and infections avoided in hospitals since in that time period. This translates to a 17 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions over the three-year period.   

The Partnership for Patients and the Hospital Engagement Networks are one part of an overall framework established by the Affordable Care Act to deliver better care, spend dollars more wisely, and improve care. Initiatives like the Partnership for Patients, Accountable Care Organizations, Quality Improvement Organizations, and others have helped reduce hospital readmissions in Medicare by nearly 8 percent between January 2012 and December 2013 – translating into 150,000 fewer readmissions – in addition to the quality improvements mentioned above.    

“We have made significant progress in keeping patients safe and we are focused on accelerating improvement efforts through collaboration and reliable implementation of best practices,” said Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS acting principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer. “This second round of Hospital Engagement Networks will allow us to continue to improve health care safety across the nation.”   

Round two of the Hospital Engagement Networks will continue to work to develop learning collaboratives for hospitals and provide a wide array of initiatives and activities to improve patient safety. They will be required to: conduct intensive training programs to teach and support hospitals in making patient care safer; provide technical assistance to hospitals so that hospitals can achieve quality measurement goals; and establish, implement, and improve the system to track and monitor hospital progress in meeting the Partnership for Patients’ quality improvement goals. The activities of the Hospital Engagement Networks will be closely monitored by CMS to ensure that they are generating results and improving patient safety.   

In the second round of Hospital Engagement Networks, MHA will receive $2.5 million to focus on making reductions in the following areas: adverse drug events; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; central line-associated blood stream infections; surgical site infections; ventilator-associated events; injuries from falls and immobility; obstetrical adverse events; pressure ulcers; venous thromboembolism; severe sepsis and septic shock; hospital culture of patient and worker safety and employee resiliency; iatrogenic delirium; clostridium difficile; SAFE pediatric care; and safe surgery. In addition, MHA will engage its network and hospital leadership in activities to address, track and reduce health care disparities.   

For more information on the Partnership for Patients and the Hospital Engagement Networks, please visit www.mnhospitals.org/patient-safety/partnership-for-patients or partnershipforpatients.cms.gov.     

The Minnesota Hospital Association represents 143 hospitals and health systems, which provide quality care for their patients and meet the needs of their communities.   

# # #