Georgia Hospital Association Patient Safety Project Helps Prevent About 20,000 Harm Incidents

The Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Hospital Engagement Network (HEN), a patient safety partnership of 111 Georgia hospitals across the state, helped prevent about 20,000 incidents of harm in those hospitals saving Georgia’s health care system an estimated $106 million to $136 million over a three-year period.

The Georgia HEN, one of only 26 organizations in the country selected and funded by the federal Partnership for Patients (PfP) initiative to significantly reduce hospital-acquired conditions and reduce hospital readmissions, finished its work in December with a slew of impressive accomplishments.  Those included:

The GHA HEN was one of 26 organizations in the country that contracted with the PfP project.

Over the past three years, the GHA HEN’s patient safety efforts resulted in the prevention of 20,000 incidents of harm, which translates to an estimated savings of $106 million to $136 million. State data shows that the 111 hospitals that participated in the GHA HEN made overall improvements on several measures, including:

•       A 61 percent reduction in the rate of adverse drug events, saving an estimated $39 million in health care costs.

•       A 97.5 percent reduction in early elective deliveries, which are clinically proven to put the baby at greater risk for breathing, feeding and developmental challenges.

•       A 29.7 percent decrease in surgical site infections (SSIs) for hysterectomy patients.

•       A 77.8 percent reduction in intensive care unit (ICU) central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI).

•       A 36.7 percent drop in non-ICU CLABSI.

•       A 12.3 percent reduction in Medicare readmissions, saving the state an estimated $7 million.

Additionally, 89 percent of the hospitals conducted cultural competency training as part of efforts to improve health disparities in Georgia.

“The work and dedication of our hospitals throughout this three-year initiative was remarkable,” said GHA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Doug Patten. “The HEN hospitals embraced the 'All teach. All learn' approach and adopted collaboration as a strategy. GHA and Georgia hospitals are demonstrating their commitment to improve care for all Georgians.”

The acknowledgement was received as part of CMS’ “QualityNet: The CMS Healthcare Quality Conference.” The GHA HEN and its member hospitals remain committed to improving patient care and outcomes into the future.