Hospital Collabortion Saves Lives and Money

Posted by MatthewD on Oct 21st, 2009 | 135 comments home title

Premier Inc. announced today that their QUEST program has saved more than 8,000 lives and $577 million in costs in one year, and that is only with 32 participating hospitals. If non-participating hospitals would have joined in they could have saved 52,760 lives. Does anyone see a problem here? Nearly 53,000 people died last year because there were hospitals that did not participate in a best practice cost reduction and quality improvement initiatives.

“QUEST hospitals are outpacing the performance of others, proving that when hospitals work together in a transparent, collaborative forum, they bring the depth of their shared knowledge to the table,” DeVore continued. “Such collaboration helps participants reliably deliver the most efficient, effective and caring hospital experience for each and every patient, every single time.”

There are two keywords in this quote transparent and collaborative. More lives could be saved if hospitals were more transparent and collaborative with the patient as well as with other medical facilities. Being accountable and reporting quality data on their website would be one way to help everyone out.

The 32 Top Performing Hospitals

32 QUEST hospitals have attained the performance goals in all three areas measured in Year 1: cost, quality and evidence-based care delivery. These top-performing hospitals are:

Alegent Health
- Mercy Hospital – Council Bluffs, Iowa
Alexian Brothers Health System
- St. Alexius Medical Center – Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Aurora Health Care
- Aurora Medical Center in Kenosha, Wis.
- Aurora Medical Center in Oshkosh, Wis.
- Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center – Sheboygan, Wis.
- Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center – Milwaukee
- St. Luke’s South Shore – Cudahy, Wis.
Bon Secours Health System
- Bon Secours St. Francis Health System – Greenville, S.C.
  - St. Francis eastside
  - St. Francis downtown
- Bon Secours Richmond Health System
  - Memorial Regional Medical Center – Mechanicsville, Va.
Charleston Area Medical Center Health System – Charleston, W.Va.
- Charleston Area Medical Center
  - CAMC General Hospital
  - CAMC Memorial Hospital
  - Women and Children’s Hospital
CaroMont Health
- Gaston Memorial Hospital – Gastonia, N.C.
Greenville Hospital System
- Hillcrest Memorial Hospital – Simpsonville, S.C.
Kettering Health Network
- Kettering Medical Center – Kettering, Ohio
- Sycamore Medical Center – Miamisburg, Ohio
- Grandview Medical Center – Dayton, Ohio
- Southview Medical Center – Dayton, Ohio
LaGrange/Troup County Hospital Authority – La Grange, Ga.
Memorial Health University Medical Center – Savannah, Ga.
Meridian Health
- Jersey Shore University Medical Center – Neptune, N.J.
Mountain States Health Alliance
- Indian Path Medical Center – Kingsport, Tenn.
- North Side Hospital – Johnson City, Tenn.
Pallottine Missionary Sisters
- St. Mary’s Medical Center – Huntington, W.Va.
St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network
- St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital – Quakertown, Pa.
SSM Health Care
- SSM DePaul Health Center – Bridgeton, Mo.
- SSM St. Mary’s Hospital – Richmond Heights, Mo.
- SSM St. Joseph Health Center – St. Charles, Mo.
Texas Health Resources
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hurst-Euless-Bedford – Bedford, Texas
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Azle – Azle, Texas
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne – Cleburne, Texas
- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Kaufman – Kaufman, Texas
TriHealth – Cincinnati
- Bethesda North Hospital
- Good Samaritan Hospital