September 10, 2007

Brought to you by Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Health Policy

Volume II, Number 33

New York City Hospitals Publicly Reporting Hospital Data

On September 7th, the 11 New York City Hospitals began publicly releasing data on
infection and death rates. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and The New York City Health and
Hospitals Corporation were behind these efforts. This idea grew out of concern about deadly,
preventable and costly hospital-acquired infections that have been hitting the headlines recently.
This data is publicly available at www.nyc.gov/hhc and allows the overall death rate, the rate of
deaths after heart attacks, preventable bloodstream infections and pneumonia cases, among
other measures to be viewed for the 11 public hospitals which treat over 1.3 million individuals
per year. By making this data available, the hospital corporation hopes to reduce errors. (New
York Times, 9/7/07)
Effectiveness of Teaching Quality Improvement
A study released this week in JAMA explored the question of whether teaching quality
improvement is effective for clinicians. While accreditation standards mandate that quality
improvement principles be integrated into the curricula of medical trainees, the benefits are
unclear. The study was based on an extensive literature search to determine the relationship
between clinical outcomes and the learning principles used. The 39 studies included in the
analysis utilized various approaches including team-based projects and didactic instruction
combined with clinical experiences. Four of the studies analyzed as part of this project
analyzed both educational and clinical outcomes. Overall, the study showed improvement in
learners' knowledge or confidence to perform QI but no true improvement in clinical outcomes.
(JAMA, 9/5/07)
If It Looks Like Quality Is It Quality?
Many hospitals and healthcare systems advertise the awards they receive, especially
when it comes to quality. You can’t always believe the billboard you see when driving down the
road that Hospital A outperforms Hospital B. Proceed with caution when promoting your
hospital based on awards and rankings, says Anthony Cirillo, president of Fast Forward
Strategic Planning and Marketing Consulting. "Any hospital using these as part of their
marketing mix can have it come back to bite them." He also points out that data used for quality
rankings is constantly changing; therefore, it is often outdated by the time it is used for a
marketing campaign. (HealthLeaders, 9/5/07)
Patients and Families Now Using Rapid Response Teams
A few years ago the Institute for Healthcare Improvement launched a campaign entitled
100,000 lives. One of the measures outlined in that campaign was the use of Rapid Response
Teams (RRT) which are designed to identify patients before they crash, or "code," in respiratory
or cardiac distress. A hospital in Pittsburgh has brought the concept of Rapid Response
Teams not only to the medical staff, but also to the patients and their families. This concept
relies on the idea that the family knows the patient better than anyone and should be able to
activate the RRT if something does not seem right. There are currently about 20 hospitals in
the United States allowing non-clinicians to activate the system. (Washington Post, 9/4/07)

Any questions regarding this newsletter can be directed

to Valerie Pracilio at valerie.pracilio@jefferson.edu or
Bettina Berman bettina.berman@jefferson.edu.