Healthcare benchmarks最新文献

Greensboro, NC-based Accordant Health Services, which specializes in managing 14 complex, chronic diseases, saw a 726% enrollment gain in 1998. At the end of 1998, Accordant reported a 53% reduction in hospital utilization among 754 patients with complex, chronic diseases. Company leaders say one key to their success has been the innovative use of technology that lets patients be at the center of their own treatment plan.

If you don't know where you're headed, you'll never get there. Critical success indicators can help you define what you need to succeed as a business. You need eight to 10 critical success indicators that are based on your strategic plan, are easily measurable, and are on the macro level. Everyone on your staff, from the CEO to maintenance, needs to know what the critical success indicators are and how individual jobs relate.

A report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) states the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) will likely experience system failures as a result of the year 2000 (Y2K) computer problem. Translation: You might not get paid. HCFA Administrator Nancy-Ann DeParle insists that claims will be paid on Jan. 1 and that GAO is overstating the risks. One Y2K expert advises cautious optimism coupled with extensive individual preparations.

A grass-roots effort led by nurses allowed a North Carolina hospital to cut the length of stay for patients on ventilators by 34% and the overall ICU length of stay by 25% in nine months. A ventilator protocol approved by physicians lets nurses and respiratory therapists begin weaning patients without calling the physician at every turn. Ventilator patients averaged savings of $35,000 in hospital charges during the nine-month study period.

Experts say 5% to 10% of physicians are communicating with their patients by e-mail. E-mail can help physicians use their time more effectively, give them the ability to follow-up with patients more easily, improve relationships with existing patients, and help attract new ones. E-mail is an easy way to handle administrative tasks such as setting appointments and refilling prescriptions. It also provides written documentation of conversations that can be placed in the patient's paper chart.

South Carolina will soon give physicians the ability to access physician-specific comparison data on hospitalizations, length of stay, complications, and outcomes through the Internet. The project director says this will allow physicians to manage care and dramatically improve outcomes. The state's two medical schools plan to use the data to drive their decisions on which continuing medical education programs to offer.

The health care industry as a whole lags far behind other industries in preparing for the year 2000. Experts say about half of health care providers won't be ready. Important first steps are taking an inventory of medical devices and systems that may have year 2000-related glitches and then making a prioritized list of what to fix first. Experts advise making contingency plans such as having extra staff available Dec. 31, 1999, and stocking up on battery-powered radios and lights.

The Joint Commission's Codman Award recognizes health care organizations that use outcomes measurement to improve their quality of care. Atascadero (CA) State Hospital's analysis of violent incidents led to a 40% drop in mealtime aggressive incidents and a savings of 70 nursing staff hours a day. Susquehanna Lutheran Village of Millersburg, PA, did an outcomes study that led to the elimination of restraint usage on residents. More residents are discharged to home, and staff turnover has decreased.