MBGH Update: Methodist Healthcare Quality Report Cards Now On-line

Memphis Business Group on Health (MBGH) applauds Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (Methodist) for making their quality of care report card public on their websites. Specifically, MBGH is pleased with this initiative for the following reasons:

• MBGH has been working with Memphis-area hospitals since 1997 to improve transparency. As advocates for our member employers, we’ve consistently pressured hospitals to measure and publicly report their performance and to use this information to improve the quality of care they provide.

• MBGH has been asking Methodist to report quality information separately for their adult hospitals since 2002. In response to our request for Methodist to participate in our Leapfrog initiative, they have responded to The Leapfrog Group Annual Hospital Survey separately for each adult hospital. Until now, other publicly available quality reports have only been at the system level, essentially reporting average performance across the system. System-level reporting has not been useful to employers as they try to educate their employees about selecting hospitals that provide higher quality care. In this new initiative, Methodist is reporting quality information by facility which is a significant advancement.

• MBGH has asked Memphis-area hospitals to report their performance on a regular basis, which allows employer purchasers and employees to track performance over time, including whether hospitals improve performance or if there is lack of improvement. Methodist has committed to reporting this information regardless of whether it shows they are providing quality care or if they need to improve, thereby providing the good news and the not-so-good news.

This initiative is an excellent first step in increasing transparency with area employer purchasers and employees/potential patients. MBGH asks that all Memphis-area hospitals look to this as a local transparency standard they should try to meet and exceed.

As this initiative takes root, MBGH asks all Memphis-area hospitals, including Methodist, to add additional critical information to their online information. Information on outcomes, such as survival rates/mortality rates; structure measures such as staffing in ICUs and computerized physician order entry; and hospital acquired conditions, such as falls, pressure ulcers, and infections is already available and would not require significant work to add to the reports.

Gary Shorb, President and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, emphasizes their commitment to working with MBGH and purchaser employers to provide additional information that is useful to employers and their employees. MBGH is meeting with Gary and senior Methodist staff to work out the specifics and timeline. We will keep you up-to-date as details are finalized.

We welcome the opportunity to work with other Memphis-area hospitals, as well, as they develop their transparency strategies.

In the meantime, we encourage you to access and use the Methodist Healthcare information by clicking below:

Methodist Healthcare Adult Quality

Le Bohneur Children’s Hospital Quality

Memphis Medical News Reports on MBGH Leapfrog Rewards

Click here for the Memphis Medical News article on MBGH's April Annual Awards Luncheon where we recognized hospitals for their national performance and "best odds of survival".

Memphis Hospitals Continue to be Challenged by Infections

Click here to read the latest article on hospital infection rates in Memphis.

MBGH has been working through The Leapfrog Group and other ways to push hospitals to reduce hospital infections, which cost both dollars and lives.

Click here to see Leapfrog Hospital Survey results for Memphis hospitals which include infectionr rates in ICUs. Share this important information with your employees so they can select hospitals that provide a higher level of quality, safe care.

MBGH Recognizes 5 Memphis-area Hospitals for "Best Odds of Survival"

Click here to read about MBGH's Leapfrog awards to 5 Memphis-area hospitals that have "best odds of survival" in the Memphis Daily News.

Click here to read the press release which talks about other Memphis-area findings from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, including how Memphis hospitals compare to hospitals nationally on COST of care.

The VA Saves $3 Billion over 10 Years with HIT Systems

The VA system reports that implementing health information technology has saved them $3billion from 1997-2007 through reductions in duplicated tests and medical errors, as well as operating efficiencies. Technology implemented included computerized patient records, bar coded medications, radiology, laboratory and medication ordering. Imagine the savings we could have in Memphis if all of our systems implemented these same technologies!!! Quality of care also improved during this period. You can track Memphis hosptial progress in implementing computerized provider order entry for medications by reviewing The Leapfrog Hospital Survey results here (see "Prevent Medication Errors"). We have a long way to go in this area. Methodist Healthcare indicates that Methodist North and Le Bonheur are now operational and the remainder of the system should be operational by 2011.

Click here to read an article about the VA experience.

MBGH Says: Real Cost Reform is Still to Come

Memphis Business Group on Health's work is highlighted in the April 1, 2010 Memphis Business Quarterly blog. The posting focuses on the need for real cost reform -- saving dollars and improving quality by preventing things that should not happen and improving health and saving dollars by doing things we should be doing to take better care of ourselves.

There is also a link to the Leapfrog Hospital Survey results for Memphis hospitals.

Check the Memphis Business Quarterly blog out regularly for other Memphis business-related postings.

MBGH "Ahead of the Health Reform Curve"

Click here to read the Daily News article on MBGH being a leader in preparing Memphis employers, hospitals, health plans and other providers for health reform.

Note: Cristie Upshaw Travis is a member of the Purchaser Advisory Council for NCQA, not a member of the Board.

Cost Effective, Quality, Safe Care Must Be Part of the Med's Plan

Merely waiving co-pays and deductibles is not enough to accomplish what The Commercial Appeal's editorial says the Med must do: "The Med has to convince potential paying patients that it's a quality alternative for medical care."

Waiving co-pays and deductibles reduces financial barriers for patients, but in no way ensures that the care they receive is efficient, high quality, and safe. People should have information on the cost and quality of care at the Med to decide if the waived financial requirements are "worth it". But much of the cost and quality information that is available for all the other hospitals in Memphis is not available for the Med because the Med does not publicly report this information through The Leapfrog Group's Annual Hospital Survey (click here to get results for other Memphis hospitals).

Information that is publicly available on the Med's quality of care shows that significant opportunities for improvement exist. For example, recently released statistics on central line infections in ICUs shows that in 2008, the Med's rate of infection was approximately 238% above the average (click here to read Consumer Reports Health article and click here to get State of Tennessee report) . The Med indicates that they have been addressing this issue, but it would be good for us to know what progress they have made in bringing the infection rate down. If the Med reported to The Leapfrog Group survey, we would know how effective their improvement efforts have been and could track their progress.

In addition, the Med's scores on patient experience of care measures from Medicare's survey for the 12-months ending March 2009 show that only 56% of the patients would "definitely recommend" the hospital to others (compared to a national and statewide 68% average).

Finding a financial solution to the Med's situation is essential, but the Med owes us cost-effective, high quality, and safe care. They owe us this under all circumstances, but especially if they are going to offer us financial incentives to use their services. It is not right to ask people to make the decision to come to the Med based only on the fact that they will "save money". The Med should participate, as all other Memphis hospitals do, in the Leapfrog survey so people can decide if the quality of care they are likely to receive is worth saving money because there are no co-pays or deductibles.

Click here to read the latest Commerical Appeal editorial.

Hospital Proves That Improved ICU Quality Saves Dollars

Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center (SWRMC) has gone 5 years and hopes to celebrate its 6th year of no ventilator acquired pneumonia (VAP) cases in its ICU. This experience puts SWRMC in the top 10% of hospitals nationally in VAP experience. SWRC's ICU costs are $6,000 less that other comparable hospitals.

VAP is the second most common hospital acquired infection and the most common in ICUs.

This achievement is due to managing length of stay and ventilator days through:

• Screening protocols which result in fewer patients being put on ventilators in the first place
• Implementing the Institute for Health Improvement's ventilator bundle
• And, as The Leapfrog Group requires, using a dedicated intensivist (a physician specially trained in critical care medicine) in the ICU.

SWRMC's experience shows that better quality does indeed cost less. Employers have a vested interest in whether or not hosptials implement these types of process improvements as these improvements result in better care for the patient and cost the patient and employer less. MBGH is the Regional Roll Out leader for The Leapfrog Group here in Memphis. Employers should continue to push, through MBGH, for these types of improvements so we too can benefit here in Memphis.

Click here to read the article.

Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Proud to Be a Leapfrog Top Hospital

Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb, Chief Medical Officer at University of Maryland Medical Center, talks about why UMMC is proud to be one of The Leapfrog Group's Top Hospitals for the fourth straight year. It is wonderful to have a major medical center accept the challenge Leapfrog has issued to "trigger giant leaps" in the safety, quality and affordability of health care.

Memphis area hospitals have been national leaders in reporting to The Leapfrog Group's annual Hospital Survey and we have seen progress in the adoption of computerized provider order entry and in staffing intensive care units with physicians trained in critical care medicine. But we still have a long way to go to have a hospital included in Leapfrog's Top Hospital list.

MBGH is challenging Memphis-area hosptials to have at least one hospital on this list in 2011. Let's see which hospital(s) step up and accept the challenge!!

Click here to view the video.

No Memphis Hospitals on Leapfrog's Top Hospital List

No Memphis hospitals are on The Leapfrog Group's Top Hospital list for 2009. Only TN hospitals were Vanderbilt University Hospital and The Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. I'm challenging Memphis hospitals to have at least one of our hospitals on this list by 2011. Which hospital(s) want to help make this happen?

Click here to see the entire list of Top Hospitals.