Quality Initiative Saves Dignity $30 Million

A training regimen for nurses that was mostly performed via the Internet helped Dignity Health save about $30 million and avoid a multitude of hospital-acquired infections, patient falls and other avoidable incidents at its 32 inpatient facilities statewide.

Dignity was able to train about 600 of its nurses to become more cognizant of medical conditions and modes of care more likely to lead to HAIs and other avoidable conditions. The nurses, known as “measureventionists,” received much of their training via informational webinars streamed over the Internet. They were trained to focus on and implement specific protocols for ensuring that quality of care remained high. 

“The nurses are really doing a lot of evaluations of the patients at bedside,” said Barbara Pelletreau, Dignity's senior vice president of patient safety.

The virtual training has resulted in many real-world benefits: Between January 2012 and December 2013, Dignity was able to cut the hypoglycemic rate among its diabetic patients by 65%; ventilator-associated pneumonias by 60%; hospital-acquired pressure ulcers by 50%; catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 45%; surgical site infections and patient falls by 35%; and central-line associated blood stream infections by 34%.

Dignity is part of the federal Partnership for Patients’ Hospital Engagement Network, an initiative under the Affordable Care Act that aims to increase the quality of care while reducing costs.

In addition to the reduction of various hospital-acquired conditions,  readmissions within 30 days of a patient discharge were also reduced by about 9%. Pelletreau said Dignity's goal was to bring it down systemwide by 20% in 2015. 

Pelleatreau noted that the gap between the improvement in various care processes versus readmissions reflected a variety of challenges, including the fact many patients that are readmitted often suffer from multiple serious medical conditions. “It's much harder to get your hands around,” she said.