Texas Hospital Association Launches Texas Institute for Patient Safety

The Texas Hospital Association launched the Texas Institute for Patient Safety within its nonprofit foundation to advance the adoption of proven strategies that enhance the quality and safety of care provided in Texas hospitals, according to a THA news release.

The initiative was funded by a grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. The institute will focus initially on two specific projects: a statewide collaborative to reduce or eliminate central line-associated bloodstream infections in hospital intensive care units and a hospital collaborative to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections, according to the release. While these two projects are being implemented, the institute also will develop a project designed to reduce hospital readmissions for specific conditions, such as heart failure.

"The recently passed federal healthcare reform legislation provides incentives to operate more efficiently and effectively. Adopting and consistently following proven strategies that reduce infections are just one example of how we can improve patient outcomes while reducing unnecessary costs," Dan Stultz, MD, FACP, FACHE, president and CEO of THA, said in the release.

The Texas initiative for central line-associated bloodstream infections, which kicked off on May 6 with an educational event in San Antonio, is designed to replicate the success of an earlier project undertaken in Michigan hospitals by the Keystone Center and  Johns Hopkins University, in which the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program was implemented in more than 100 ICUs to successfully reduce or eliminate bloodstream infections, according to the release.

Read the release about the Texas Institute for Patient Safety.