At last week’s annual meeting, we introduced a powerful new tool: www.WAHospitalQuality.org.
This site takes the results on almost 90 measures for all of our state’s 99 hospitals, and makes them public—but not just public. Really accessible and understandable. Anyone can go to the website and:
- Read all the quality scores from a single hospital;
- Compare any three hospitals on all measures (with the help of easy-to-read guages);
- Compare all of the hospitals on a single category of measures;
- Read patient tips related to the measure they’re interested in.
Is that hard to imagine? We have a great 4-minute video that shows why the site was needed, and how it works. See it here.
WSHA has long been committed to transparency as a way forward; we are excited to be able to show the public what kind of information is available to them, and how they can use it to improve their own hospital experience.
Like any new technology, we’re looking forward to building the capacity and functionality of www.WAHospitalQuality.org. We encourage you to go explore it and tell us what you think. What works? What doesn’t? We are just getting started.
Ebola Preparedness
Like hospitals across the country, Washington State hospitals have been preparing for the possibility of a patient sick with Ebola virus disease.
Although only two people have been infected within U.S. borders, they were both hospital nurses. We take seriously our obligation to care for our patients, our staff members and our communities. Infection control is a hospital-wide responsibility that requires everyone involved to be trained, equipped, vigilant and communicative. We are working with the state Department of Health and other organizations such as the Washington State Medical Association and the Washington State Nurses Association to increase the level of preparedness in all health care settings.
While no one can predict what will happen, we are working hard to be prepared. We are going at it with a mindset of not if, but when. We have made resources available to hospitals and the public on our website, visit our Ebola page here.
Scott Bond
WSHA President and CEO
ScottB@wsha.org
Hospitals Honored for Patient Safety
Fourteen member hospitals earned the 2014 “Washington State Hospital Association Achieving Best Care” award for efforts to decrease patient harm through their participation in the Partnership for Patients national initiative. Check out the full list of winners here.
The “Achieving Best Care” award was presented to hospitals that achieved the highest scores on harm reduction in the key areas. All award recipients were in the top quartile of performance in the highest percentage of strategies in their category of bed size. They were only evaluated on the services they provide.
The award was presented at the 82nd Annual WSHA meeting October 16, 2014. (Rebecca Snyders, rebeccas@wsha.org)
WSHA Members “Leap” Ahead to Reduce Radiation Risk
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital in Spokane received the 2014 President’s Award for Strategic Innovation in recognition of their work to reduce unnecessary radiation to patients. The award is presented by Providence Health & Services for projects that demonstrate innovative achievements in health care and service to the community. As leaders in this work they began their journey in 2011 and joined WSHA’s Leading Edge Advanced Practice Topics (LEAPT) in 2013. Providence Sacred Heart has reduced unnecessary radiation exposure by 35 percent in the last year. To learn more watch their video, “Small Changes, Big Results.”
And more good news – the rest of the Providence hospitals in Washington State are joining other WSHA members in the 100K Children’s Campaign to reduce childhood risk to radiation exposure. Join us at our November 17 Safe Table or visit our website to learn more. (Becky DeMers, beckyd@wsha.org)
Narrowing in on a Statewide Performance Measures
The Governor appointed Performance Measurement Coordinating Committee will meet on October 31, 2014 to review the draft set of statewide performance measures for use in purchasing, cost benchmarking and quality improvement. The meeting is open to the public and your participation is welcome.
Can’t make the meeting or haven’t had time to track this work? Don’t worry, WSHA staff who serve on the Committee and the three sub work-groups have been advocating on your behalf over the past five months. The Committee will meet again on December 17, 2014 to finalize the measure set which will be delivered to the Legislature on January 1, 2015. For more information read the WSHA Bulletin on the topic. (Ian Corbridge, ianc@wsha.org)
Industry Partner Benefit: Free Locum Tenens Staffing Book
Have Stethoscope, Will Travel: Staff Care’s Guide to Locum Tenens provides answers to many questions pertaining to locum tenens doctors, and provides a big picture look at today’s physician staffing trends as well as “how to” information for both health care facilities that use temporary physicians and for physicians interested in working as locum tenens.
Authored by Staff Care president Sean Ebner and Phillip Miller, the book explores the role of temporary physicians in meeting community health care needs in the context of today’s physician staffing trends.
Staff Care is an Industry Partner of Washington Hospital Services. WSHA members benefit from discounts and access to services of select vendors through the Industry Partners Program. WSHA members can receive a free copy of the book by contacting Ben Ervin at (972) 505-7285 or by email at benjamin.ervin@staffcare.com. (Yvonne Polk, yvonnep@wsha.org)
Submit Your Nomination for a 2015 Leader in Health Care
Nominations are open for Seattle Business’s Leaders in Health Care Awards 2015. This program recognizes the individuals and organizations leading the charge in Washington’s world-class health care industry through excellent patient care, outstanding leadership and thoughtful innovation. Note that this year there is an important new category for hospital leaders outside the Puget Sound region.
Entries will be judged by a group of respected health care leaders. Winners will appear in the Leaders in Health Care feature in the March 2015 issue of Seattle Business and honored at a gala in February 2015. Nomination is easy, just fill out the simple online form. Nomination deadline October 31, 2014.
If you have any questions, contact Seattle Business Marketing and Events Manager Lauren Madeja at lauren.madeja@tigeroak.com or (206) 452-2977. (Deborah Swets, deborahs@wsha.org)
We Want You! WSHA Recruiting for Patient Safety and Policy Positions
WSHA is looking for passionate and qualified people to join our team. We currently have two openings, the Director, Quality and Performance Improvement under our Partnership for Patients and Patient Safety program, and a Policy Director for Access on the Policy Team.
The quality director position works objectives related to healthcare associated infections, adverse drug events, sepsis and reducing readmissions. The director will be actively involved in leading complex projects with more than 90 hospitals implementing process improvements and developing of tools and best practice strategies.
The policy director position provides leadership on issues that address access to health care, including state coverage issues, insurance benefits, and hospital facility regulations. This position also provides assistance on legal policy issues.
For complete job descriptions and application information, visit the job openings webpage. (Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, marykaycr@wsha.org)
2014 WHPAC Campaign Update
We are half way through the 2014 WHPAC campaign and have raised more than $160,000 toward our $170,000 goal! We are making great progress and are excited to see so many of our members’ leadership teams reach their fundraising goal!
Congratulations to the following leadership teams who have met goal:
- Capital Medical Center
- Cascade Behavioral Health
- Cascade Medical Center
- Columbia Basin Hospital
- Columbia County Health System
- Fairfax Hospital
- Island Hospital
- Kittitas Valley Healthcare
- Lake Chelan Community Hospital
- Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center
- Lincoln Hospital
- Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics
- MultiCare Health System
- Navos
- North Valley Hospital
- Olympic Medical Center
- Othello Community Hospital
- Overlake Medical Center
- PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center
- PeaceHealth United General Medical Center
- Providence Mount Carmel Hospital/Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital
- Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children’s Hospital/Providence Holy Family Hospital
- Skagit Regional Health
- Skyline Hospital
- Snoqualmie Valley Hospital District
- Summit Pacific Medical Center
- Sunnyside Community Hospital & Clinics
- Three Rivers Hospital
- Valley General Hospital
- Virginia Mason Medical Center
- Walla Walla General Hospital
- WSHA/AWPHD Staff
(Lori Martinez, lorim@wsha.org)
Save the Date for Northwest Patient Safety Conference
Presented by the Washington Patient Safety Coalition on May 13, 2015 in Lynnwood,WA, the conference is an excellent opportunity to share your work with a diverse audience at this unique regional event. The Call for Speakers and Call for Posters are available on the conference web page. Please note that the Call for Speakers closes on December 1. (Carol Wagner, carolw@wsha.org)
Who is Where in Hospital Leadership These Days?
There has been quite a bit of hospital leader movement in the WSHA membership lately. Here is a re-cap of who’s where these days and what the future looks like from August 2014 forward:
- Columbia County Health System (formerly Dayton General Hospital)- Jon Smiley became CEO, August
- Deaconess Hospital/Rockwood Health System– Maurine Cate became CEO, August
- Ferry County Memorial Hospital- Brenda Parnell became CEO, October 15 (with Gary Robertson’s retirement)
- Forks Community Hospital- David Selman becomes CEO November 3
- Harrison Medical Center- David Schultz becomes CEO December 15 (with Scott Bosch’s retirement)
- Morton General Hospital- Seth Whitmer became Administrator/CEO, August (with Ron DeArth’s retirement)
- Providence Centralia Hospital- Jill Cooper became Site Administrator, August
- UW Medicine/Harborview Medical Center- Paul Hayes becomes Executive Director November 18
- Whitman Hospital and Medical Center– Hank Hanigan became CEO (with Debbie Glass’ retirement)
Upcoming Retirements
- Providence Mount Carmel & St. Joseph’s Hospitals- Chief Executive Bob Campbell retires in December
- MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital- COO Marcia Johnson retires in December
- Inland Hospital & Health Services- CEO Tom Fritz retires in December
- CHI Franciscan Health- CEO Joe Wilczek retires January 2015
(Danielle Kean, daniellek@wsha.org)
