HAP named to Hospital Engagement Network by HHS Secretary Sebelius; program will target preventable hospital-acquired conditions, readmissions, complications
As announced yesterday by U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) became the only Pennsylvania-based organization—and one of only 26 nationwide—to be named to the agency’s Hospital Engagement Network, part of its overall Partnership for Patients initiative.
Under a two-year contract with the agency, HAP and its subcontractors (the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, The Health Care Improvement Foundation, Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance) will implement strategies to support Pennsylvania hospitals in achieving Partnership for Patients goals of reducing preventable hospital-acquired conditions, readmissions, and complications during hospitalization. The contract with HAP is for approximately $5.2 million out of the $218 million total being allotted to the 26 programs.
Targeted conditions will include injuries from falls, obstetrical adverse events, surgical-site infections, adverse drug events, venous thromboembolism, pressure ulcers, central line-associated bloodstream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and wrong-site surgery.
“We are proud to be partnering with the Partnership for Patients initiative,” said HAP President and CEO Carolyn F. Scanlan. “As the only Pennsylvania-based member of the Hospital Engagement Network, HAP is uniquely positioned to meet the program’s objectives by building on the work of HAP, its subcontractors, and its hospitals and health systems.”
“At some point in our lives, many of us are going to need hospital care, and we need to be confident that no matter where we live, we’re going to get the best care in the world,” Sebelius said. “The Partnership for Patients is helping the nation’s finest health systems share their knowledge and resources to make sure every hospital knows how to provide all of its patients with the highest quality care.”
“Pennsylvania’s hospitals have been leaders in health care quality and patient safety initiatives for decades,” Scanlan said. “We also have been involved with many notable ‘firsts’ in Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania was the first state to create a patient safety organization, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority; the first state to require the reporting of all health care-associated infections and to release the first hospital-specific infection report; and the first state to develop and implement a payment policy with the state’s Medicaid program that would reduce payments to hospitals when a covered patient experienced a preventable serious adverse event.”
Other initiatives spearheaded by HAP and Pennsylvania’s hospitals include the Pennsylvania Pressure Ulcer Partnership; the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 Lives and 5 Million Lives campaigns; and the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program.
“Pennsylvania’s hospitals are about healing, health, and hope,” Scanlan said. “We are excited by this opportunity to build on our successes and engage Pennsylvania’s hospitals in this new initiative to further improve the care provided to the millions of patients who come through our doors each year.”
HAP is a statewide membership services organization that advocates for nearly 250 Pennsylvania acute and specialty care, primary care, subacute care, long-term care, home health, and hospice providers, as well as the patients and communities they serve. Additional information about HAP is available online at www.haponline.org
