More than 100 Kansas hospitals are being recognized by the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative (KHC) for their work in one of the largest national health care improvement initiatives ever undertaken to accelerate and sustain momentum toward improved quality and patient safety.
Since October 2016, more than 115 hospitals in Kansas have participated in the AHA/HRET Network—a patient safety initiative spearheaded by the American Hospital Association/Health Research & Educational Trust (AHA/HRET) involving more than 1,600 hospitals across 34 states and U.S. territories —which has been coordinated in Kansas by KHC. The initiative was part of a contract by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to achieve CMS patient safety goals to reduce hospital-acquired conditions by 20 percent and readmissions by 12 percent.
“We extend our congratulations and gratitude to all the hospitals across Kansas who participated in the AHA/HRET Network,” said Allison Peterson DeGroff, KHC executive director. “For more than three years, this community of collaborative peers has inspired and driven each other to excel in leading data-driven quality improvement. It is challenging work—and it is critical work. Each hospital’s incremental changes lead to an exponential impact on the lives of patients and their families.”
In addition to hospital efforts to improve clinical outcomes, hospitals also made progress in implementing key strategies to advance health equity and patient and family engagement.
Hospitals across the state and nation have been working since 2010 to achieve national patient safety goals established by federal agencies. Nationwide, between 2015 and 2017, an estimated 20,500 fewer patients died in a hospital and approximately $7.7 billion in health care costs were saved as a result in reductions in hospital-acquired conditions, according to a preliminary report of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The AHA/HRET Network was supported by CMS under contract number HHSM-500-2016-00067C.
— May 27, 2020