HRET/HPOE Guides and Reports

Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) guides have gone digital and mobile! HPOE is the American Hospital Association's strategic platform to accelerate performance improvement and support health reform implementation. We are delighted to provide you FREE and easy access to multiple action guides which are available via your PC, mobile device or from any browser.Learn more...

	Second Curve Road Map for Health Care – April 2013 This road map is intended to assist leaders trying to implement major strategies and assess their progress on meeting the second curve that is explained in the Metrics for the Second Curve of Health Care report.
	Metrics for the Second Curve of Health Care – April 2013 2013 Building off of health care futurist Ian Morrison’s first curve to second curve shift, CPI identified characteristics of the first curve (the volume-based curve) and the second curve (the value-based curve). Of the ten must-do strategies, four were identified as major priorities for health care leaders and are expanded on in this guide.
	Engaging Health Care Users: A Framework for Healthy Individuals and Communities - January 2013 Focuses on actively engaging health care users to improve outcomes and reduce health care costs. This report introduces a continuum for engagement from information sharing to partnerships and recommends entry points for user engagement occurring at different levels of the health care system. Aimed to help hospitals and health care systems become more “activist” in their orientation and move “upstream”—that is, to do more to engage patients and intervene earlier in the disease states.
	Advanced Illness Management Strategies: Engaging the Community and a Ready, Willing and Able Workforce Part 2 - December 2012 Effectively integrating AIM into the continuum of care will position hospitals and health systems to manage the gap between the first- and second-economic curves. This second and follow-up report expands and explains more precisely the three key strategies of AIM-access, workforce and awareness-and focuses more on patient and community awareness and engagement; and ready, willing and able workforce.
	Palliative Care Services: Solutions for Better Patient Care and Todays Health Care Delivery Challenges - November 2012 Palliative care specializes in taking care of patients with serious illness and focuses on providing relief from symptoms, pain and stress in order to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.
	A Guide to Physician Integration Models for Sustainable Success - September 2012 This guide is authored by Kaufman Hall executives, describes the groundwork and prerequisites required for successful hospital-physician integration. It provides an overview of integration models currently deployed at hospitals and health systems nationwide and offers 12 strategies hospitals and health systems will find useful in navigating the physician-integration pathway. Also included are examples of physician-integration initiatives at organizations of different types and sizes, including a hospital, health system, regional medical center, integrated delivery system and university health system.
	Advanced Illness Management Strategies - August 2012 Effectively integrating AIM into the continuum of care will position the hospital and health system to manage the gap between the first and second curve and support the transition to the second-curve business, care and service delivery model.
	The CommonWealth Fund Hospitals on the Path to Accountable Care: Highlights from a 2011 National Survey of Hospital Readiness to Participate in an Accountable Care Organization - August 2012 Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are forming in communities across the country. In ACOs, health care providers take responsibility for a defined patient population, coordinate their care across settings, and are held jointly accountable for the quality and cost of care.
	2012 Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence: A Compendium of Implementation Guides - July 2012 The compendium is a collection of action-oriented resources that can help design and implement strategies that will assist in delivering care that is safe, timely, equitable, effective, efficient and patient-centered.
	Diversity and Disparities: A Benchmark Study of U.S. Hospitals - June 2012 This chartpack offers a snapshot of some common strategies used to improve the quality of care that hospitals provide to all patients, regardless of race or ethnicity. The survey results highlight that, while more work needs to be done, advancements are being made in key areas that can promote equitable care, such as collecting demographic data, providing cultural competency training, and increasing diversity in leadership and governance.
	Hospital Readiness for Population-based Accountable Care - May 2012 This guide provides hospital leaders with a snapshot of hospitals' current readiness to participate in an ACO, as well as a tool with which to gauge their own organizations' relative preparedness for ACO participation.
	Managing Population Health: The Role of the Hospital -April 2012 To meet patient needs in the current market, hospitals have traditionally focused their efforts on caring for individuals and personalizing care for each person admitted to their facility. Common community health initiatives, such as mobile vans and health screening and education fairs, are sometimes delivered apart from an overall strategy or impact analysis.
	A Guide to Strategic Cost Transformation in Hospitals and Health Systems -March 2012 As health care moves to a value-based business model, health care payments will likely be reduced, while care efficiency, quality, outcomes and access will be expected to improve. To continue meeting community health care needs in the new delivery and payment environment, hospitals and health system leaders need to think strategically about managing cost.
	Health Care Leader Action Guide to Effectively Using HCAHPS -March 2012 This guide describes how HCAHPS data should be used in context with other information about organizational performance. It highlights cultural elements necessary to build a firm foundation for HCAHPS success. Once these foundational elements have been considered, the guide outlines a 5-step approach to using HCAHPS effectively to improve the patient experience, quality and safety.
	Improving Perinatal Safety -February 2012 Early elective deliveries have been proven to increase the risk of adverse health outcomes post delivery for both mother and child. As a result, many hospitals and health systems are trying to eliminate elective deliveries before 39 weeks. This guide provides a framework for the quality improvement project, metrics to measure progress and leading case examples.
	Eliminating Health Care Disparities: Implementing the National Call to Action Using Lessons Learned -February 2012 This guide looks at nine hospitals and health systems and summarizes each organization’s key successes toward providing equity in care in one of the three areas: increasing the collection of race, ethnicity, and language preference data, increasing cultural competency training for clinicians and support staff, or increasing diversity in governance and management.
	Caring for Vulnerable Populations -January 2012 In 2011, The AHA Committee on Research examined emerging hospital-centered practices in effective care coordination for vulnerable populations, focusing the examples on the critical "dual eligible" — population individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The report, Caring for Vulnerable Populations, explores the necessity for organizations to pursue improved care coordination strategies for dual eligibles and other vulnerable populations.
	Principles and Guidelines for Changes in Hospital Ownership -January 2012 Market forces are driving renewed interest in integration that may result in changes in the ownership or control of hospitals, such as through mergers with or acquisitions by other hospitals, the formation of integrated delivery networks or the development of accountable care organizations.
	Hospitals and Care Systems of the Future -September 2011 Analyzing the results of exploratory interviews, this inaugural publication from AHA's Committee on Performance Improvement identifies must-do, priority strategies and core competencies that hospitals and care systems should establish to remain successful in this era of sweeping change throughout the industry.
	2011 Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence: A Compendium of Implementation Guides - July 2011 Includes the latest HPOE guides on equity, variation, health and wellness, patient safety, and financing. Together with the AHA’s recent series of Research Synthesis Reports and the executive summaries of the 2010 HPOE guides, this collection provides a wealth of resources that can help you design and implement the strategies that will take your organization to the next level of performance and achieve new heights in delivering care that is safe, timely, equitable, effective, efficient and patient-centered.
	Allied Hospital Association Leadership for Quality - July 2011 Using examples from the applicants for the American Hospital Association’s inaugural Dick Davidson Quality Milestone Award for Allied Association Leadership, this guide describes the common elements of implementing successful performance improvement initiatives among hospitals and health systems.

	Building a Culturally Competent Organization: The Quest for Equity in Health Care - June 2011 This guide explores how hospitals and health systems can increase their cultural competency in order to provide care that is respectful of patients’ diverse values, beliefs and behaviors.
	Striving for Top Box: Hospitals Increasing Quality and Efficiency - April 2011 This guide was created to share best practices and key lessons from innovative organizations on a variety of topics including care coordination, health and wellness, equity of care, and new payment and care delivery models.
	Improving Health Equity Through Data Collection AND Use: A Guide for Hospital Leaders - March 2011 This guide explores key strategies that hospitals have adopted to collect race, ethnicity, and primary language data about their patients and use the data in efforts to overcome disparities in care.
	A Health Care Leader Action Guide: Hospital Strategies for Reducing Preventable Mortality - February 2011 This guide is designed to assist hospital leaders in improving quality and performance by outlining eight steps on ways reduce for reducing preventable mortality.
	A Health Care Leader Action Guide: Understanding and Managing Variation - February 2011 The guide includes practical steps to understanding and managing variation and a list of best practices and case studies as examples and resources for hospital leaders to use for implementing key interventions.
	Call to Action: Creating a Culture of Health -January 2011 The AHA's Long-Range Policy Committee developed a comprehensive report, A Call to Action: Creating a Culture of Health. It highlights current practices that hospitals use today with their own employees, gives examples of promising practices, and provides how-to recommendations to the field to be leaders of health in their communities.
	A Guide to Financing Strategies for Hospitals - With Special Consideration for Smaller Hospitals - December 2010 This guide explores seven strategies that can help hospitals achieve the best possible capital access.
	AHA Committee on Research: Strategic Issue Forecast Report - November 2010 AHA Committee on Research developed the Strategic Issues Forecast 2015. The purpose of the Strategic Issues Forecast 2015 is to look beyond the 2010-2012 AHA Research Agenda and to focus on long-term strategic issues affecting hospitals and health systems in the 2011 to 2015 horizon. By doing so, the Strategic Issues Forecast 2015 is meant to help drive transformation in health care.
	Hand Hygiene Project: Best Practices from Hospitals Participating in the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare Project - November 2010 This multi-case study describes how eight hospitals used Lean Six Sigma to examine and improve work processes and identify causes and targeted solutions for failure to clean hands.
	AHA Research Synthesis Report: Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) - September 2010 This synthesis report presents an overview of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), including key features, discussion of federal, state, and private sector medical home models, and considerations for hospitals interested in developing a PCMH.
	2010 Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence: A Compendium of Implementation Guides - July 2010 This compendium of guides, reports, and toolkits provides a wealth of actionable resources to help you design and implement strategies as you take your hospital to the next level of performance and address the challenges and opportunities of implementing health care reform.
	Early Learnings from the Bundled Payment Acute Care Episode Demonstration Project - July 2010 An overview and summary of lessons learned from the current CMS pilot project, the CMS Acute Care Episode Demonstration Project, that is testing the effect of bundling Part A and B payments for episodes of care improve coordination, quality and efficiency of care.
	Health Care Leader Action Guide on Implementation of Electronic Health Records - July 2010 This report provides a roadmap to help senior executives develop a strategy to use EHRs that advances the organization's ability to deliver care that is safer, effective and efficient.
	AHA Research Synthesis Report: Accountable Care Organizations - June 2010 This guide presents ideas to consider in developing an ACO and reviews the key competencies that are needed in order to be an accountable ACO.
	Using Workforce Practices to Drive Quality Improvement: A Guide for Hospitals - June 2010 This guide provides practical advice on workforce practices that hospitals can adopt to develop a high-performing workforce that can deliver safe, high quality and efficient health care.
	AHA Research Synthesis Report: Bundled Payment - March 2010 An AHA Research Synthesis Report presents an overview of bundled payment, including evidence of its impact in the public and private sector, as well as questions that must be considered.
	A Guide to Achieving High Performance in Multi-Hospital Health Systems - March 2010 The guide provides numerous tools that leaders can use to help drive performance improvement regardless if they are part of a health system; the lessons are transferrable to all hospitals.
	Health Care Leader Action Guide to Reduce Avoidable Readmissions - January 2010 This guide helps hospital leaders assess, prioritize, implement and monitor strategies to reduce avoidable readmissions during hospitalization, as well as at discharge and post-discharge.
	HRET Disparities Toolkit - updated in 2012 This toolkit provides a comprehensive approach to the collection of race, ethnicity and primary language data and offers guidance on how to improve quality of care and reduce health disparities.

Click here to download the listing of Guides & Reports available.

Research Areas:

HRET Mission

HRET Vision

About HRET

AHA Research

Publications

HRET/HPOE Guides and Reports