The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum have selected three hospitals and health systems for stand-out patient safety efforts, the organizations jointly announced Feb. 13.
The annual John M. Eisenberg awards are given for innovation in clinical quality and safety on a national level, a local level and for individual achievement. The work of the newly named recipients spanned several areas, including ways to make surgeries safer, improve coordination and collaboration across teams, and lessen risks of opioid risk and radiation exposure for cardiovascular patients.
"We envision a future where all people always experience the safest, highest quality healthcare across all settings,"Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, president and CEO for The Joint Commission stated in the release. "The accomplishments by the 2023 Eisenberg awardees serve as examples of inspirational, yet replicable efforts enabling healthcare organizations to drive real improvements to patient safety and quality."
The national-level award was given to the Veterans Health Administration for its Surgical Pause Practice model, which as of August 2023, was being used as the framework for a national-scale program as well. The model uses the Risk Analysis Index to determine a patient's physiological frailty at the point of care before surgery ever begins. Using the index allows for further conversation and assessment of any postsurgical complications that could arise and affect mortality rates. Interventions to address any complications foreseen by clinicians were implemented after this surgical pause and ultimately reduced the six-month mortality rate of patients found by the index to be "frail" down from 25% to 8% at three VA medical centers. It was then expanded to 50 VA clinics throughout the U.S.
The local-level award was given to the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium for a program it launched statewide to improve cardiovascular care, particularly for patients who receive percutaneous coronary interventions, vascular surgical procedures, and transcatheter valve procedures. After implementation, BMC2 saw a 43% reduction in cases with high-dose radiation exposure, improvement in the rate of opioid prescriptions for patients, and better documentation of radiation use.
Eduardo Salas, PhD, of Rice University in Houston was recognized on an individual level for his work developing a framework for coordination that is now being used at 70% of U.S. hospitals to reduce medical errors. His research into healthcare organization culture and collaborative processes spans more than four decades.