Saint Joseph HealthCare Earns
The Joint Commission’s 2007 Ernest Amory Codman Award
(OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. – November 6, 2007) The Joint Commission today named Saint Joseph HealthCare, Lexington, Kentucky, a 2007 recipient of the 11th annual Ernest Amory Codman Award recognizing excellence in the use of outcomes measurement by health care organizations to achieve improvements in the quality and safety of health care.
Saint Joseph HealthCare is one of three recipients of the award in the hospital category and is being recognized for a patient safety program designed to decrease the number of adverse events related to the use of anticoagulant medicine (blood thinners). As a result of Saint Joseph’s initiative, the risk of medication errors was reduced by more than 50 percent in four months and by 88 percent within one year.
“We are pleased to recognize the 2007 Codman Award recipients for their innovative approaches and commitment to using performance measurement to improve the quality and safety of health care,” says Dennis S. O'Leary, M.D., president, The Joint Commission. “Their achievements demonstrate the progress that can be made when performance measurement leads to meaningful practices that benefit patients.”
Named for the physician regarded in health care as the “father of outcomes measurement,” the Ernest Amory Codman Award showcases the effective use of performance measurement by health care organizations to improve the quality and safety of health care.
The Joint Commission also recognizes an individual who has played a significant leadership role in promoting the use of performance measures to improve health care services, or who has made major contributions to the development and testing of performance measures or the science and art of quality improvement. A panel of national experts in quality measurement and improvement selected the seven recipients of the 2007 Awards.
“As one of three hospitals in the country who received this honor, it is a wonderful tribute to the fantastic physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and managers we have at Saint Joseph HealthCare, and demonstrates our unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality health care in the nation,” says Gene Woods, president and CEO of Saint Joseph. “It is central to our mission to keep the patient at the center of everything, and we would like to thank The Joint Commission for recognizing that through this tremendous honor.”
Saint Joseph’s initiative stemmed from data showing the organization experienced an 18.3% complication rate associated with blood thinner usage. These complications were the most common cause of adverse events for patients at the hospital. To improve performance, the organization established an interdisciplinary team focused on reducing medication errors, a surveillance and tracking system for anticoagulant adverse events, medication safety changes and educational programs. An in-house consulting service also was created to provide patient-centered care by initiating and managing anticoagulation therapy for complex patients.
In addition, the initiative improved nursing perceptions by 48 percent in the same two-year period about a non-punitive culture for identifying, reporting, mitigating and preventing errors. Saint Joseph HealthCare, based in Lexington, Kentucky, consists of Saint Joseph Hospital, Saint Joseph East, Saint Joseph Berea and Saint Joseph Mount Sterling. Founded as Lexington's first hospital in 1877, Saint Joseph Hospital has a long history of pioneering medical services and procedures in Kentucky. Saint Joseph, also known as Kentucky's Most Awarded Hospital, is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, and is guided by the core values of Reverence, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence.
Saint Joseph HealthCare will formally receive the award on November 12, during The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources’ Annual Conference on Quality and Safety in Chicago. Additional award recipients in the following categories are:
· Behavioral Health Care: Addiction Treatment Services of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland.
· Hospital: Broward General Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Christiana Care Health Services, Wilmington, Delaware.
· Long Term Care: Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, Staten Island, New York.
· Multiple Organization: Seton Family of Hospitals, Austin, Texas.
· Individual: John E. Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Center for Evaluative Clinical Services at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire.