HRET is fielding a hospital survey on care coordination and integration of services.  The survey includes specific questions for organizations that are considering becoming an accountable care organization. Results of this survey will be used to produce a benchmarking report and short guide for hospital leaders and will be shared with policymakers to ensure that payment and regulatory policies are aligned with effective care coordination. All survey responses are confidential, and participants will receive a summary of findings. For more information, contact Andy Bostick at (312) 422-2935 or mailto:nbostick@aha.org?subject=Hospital%20Survey%20on%20Care%20Coordination%20and%20Integration%20of%20Services.

 

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) 2011 Medication Safety Self Assessment® now is available online for hospitals to evaluate their medication safety practices, identify opportunities for improvement and compare experiences with demographically similar organizations. Hospitals participate anonymously via a secure, password-protected website and have unlimited opportunity to view and download their scores during the data collection period. The data submission deadline is August 31, 2011. Previous ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessments were conducted in 2000 and 2004, and findings from those assessments helped in the development of targeted educational resources, such as the Pathways for Medication Safety® tools. The 2011 reassessment was developed by ISMP in partnership with HRET and AHA and is made possible through a grant from the Commonwealth Fund. The 2011 ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessment® will document the progress of U.S. hospitals during the last five years of intense national attention to medication safety and identify the impact of new challenges that have arisen since 2004, such as drug and staffing shortages, shrinking reimbursement systems, and the application of new technology. For more information, visit http://www.ismp.org/.

 

After 10 years with Health Services Research journal, Ann Barry Flood, PhD, will be stepping down as Co-editor in Chief. Dr. Flood has been instrumental during her tenure at HSR by instituting a conflict of interest disclosure process that leads the field in accountability and by developing the Theme Issue series to publish ground-breaking health services research on focused topics of major significance. Dr. Flood also helped to create the John M. Eisenberg Article-of-the-Year Award to increase HSR’s presence and impact in health policy areas in which Dr. Eisenberg worked or promoted. HSR thanks Dr. Flood for her outstanding contributions to the journal and to the field. Jacqueline (Jackie) Zinn, PhD, will be HSR’s new Co-editor in Chief alongside José Escarce, MD, PhD. Dr. Zinn brings enormous expertise to the journal and has published over 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals in addition to being a leading authority on quality and access. To learn more about HSR visit http://www.hsr.org/.

The Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship class of 2010-2011 graduated from the program at a ceremony held May 24 in conjunction with the annual National Patient Safety Foundation Congress. Thirty-one emerging patient safety leaders participated in this year long intensive learning experience that develops leadership competencies in a dynamic, highly participatory learning community. This week the Fellowship program welcomes the incoming 2011-2012 class with an orientation call in preparation for learning sessions that will begin in July in San Diego. The AHA Health Care System Reform Fellowship will also convene in July for the program’s third and final learning retreat, which will focus on physician alignment and clinical integration. The Health Care System Reform Fellowship is a six-month interactive learning experience that provides health care leaders with tools and skills necessary to design, lead and manage emerging care delivery and payment models, such as medical homes, bundled payment arrangements, and accountable care organizations. For more information on the Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship and the AHA Health Care System Reform Fellowship, visit http://www.hpoe.org/.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention, systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness of various clinical preventive services and compiles recommendations for care, with the goal of improving population health. On Saturday, June 18 at 2:00 ET, HRET, together with the National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP) will host a free, 90-minute webinar on preventive services, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). At the end of the Web conference, participants will:

• Understand the science and the development process behind the USPSTF recommendations
• Recognize benefits of using the USPSTF recommendations to help combat the prevalence of diabetes in the Asian American and Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities
• Understand how USPSTF recommendations can be integrated into clinical workflow using AHRQ’s free electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) tool
• Understand how to incorporate the recommendations at small, rural, and critical access hospitals
• Know what preventive services are covered by Medicare as a result of the Affordable Care Act

Speakers will include HRET Vice President of Research David Schulke, representatives of Harvard Medical School and the University of Chicago Medical School, and a past member of the US Preventive Services Task Force. Click here to register for this web conference, or contact Chris Hund at mailto:chund@aha.org?subject=June%2018%20Web%20Conference%20on%20Recommendations%20of%20the%20US%20Preventive%20Services%20Task%20Force%20Inquiry or 312-422-2637 for more information.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the 2011 TRUST Award honoring Dr. Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande is a general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Associate Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. Dr. Gawande is the director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) campaign to reduce surgical complications and deaths through the institution of surgical checklists. In 2006, Dr. Gawande received the MacArthur Award for his work researching and defining modern surgical practices and medical ethics. From 1992 to 1993, he served as a senior health-policy adviser in Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign and in the White House. Established in 2003, the TRUST Award honors individuals who have exhibited visionary leadership in the health care field and who symbolize HRET’s mission of leveraging research and education to make a dramatic impact in policy and practice. For more information, and to learn more about the event on July 17th in San Diego during the Health Forum/AHA Leadership Summit, visit http://www.hret.org/trust/index.shtml, or contact Jennifer Shaw at mailto:jshaw@aha.org?subject=Sponsorship%20Opportunities%20Available%20for%20July%2017%20TRUST%20Award.

In the new era of health care reform, hospitals are being rewarded for demonstrating value through various care delivery models such as medical homes, accountable care organizations, and bundled payments. The new Health Forum/AHA Leadership Summit Learning Series on Implementing Delivery System Transformation is designed to help hospital leaders understand how new care delivery and payment models lead to delivery system transformation. The series includes four one-hour web seminars with nationally recognized experts, a self-assessment on your organization’s progress toward care integration and coordination, registration to the Health Forum/AHA Leadership Summit, including a pre-Summit workshop, and more. To register for the Health Forum/AHA Leadership Summit Learning Series, please visit http://www.hpoe.org/ or contact Natasha Goburdhun, HRET Vice President of Systems Innovation, at mailto:ngoburdhun@aha.org%20?subject=Health%20Forum%2FAHA%20Leadership%20Summit%20Learning%20Seriesor (312) 422-2623.

 

Racial and socioeconomic inequity persists in health care. According to AHRQ’s 2010 National Healthcare Disparities Report, racial, and ethnic minorities continue to receive a lower quality of care, as measured by performance on core quality measures. While most hospitals and health care systems collect patient race, ethnicity, and primary language data, using the data to provide equitable patient-centered care remains a challenge. In the May 2011 issue of H&HN magazine, HRET’s H. Awo Osei-Anto and Cynthia Hedges Greising tell the story of one hospital that has shown terrific leadership in the effort to address disparities in care. In their article, “Using Patient Data to Provide Equitable Care,” Osei-Anto and Greising describe work being done at Heywood Hospital, a 134-bed, nonprofit hospital in Gardner, Massachusetts to train staff to deliver culturally and linguistically competent care, to raise awareness of diversity and potential disparities in care, and to convene a multidisciplinary team to lead improvement. Click here to access the complete article.

 

A new guide from the AHA's Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence initiative outlines key strategies for improving hospital quality and efficiency at the same time. Striving for Top Box: Hospitals Increasing Quality and Efficiency showcases the efforts of three health systems that are implementing a variety of strategies to meet their "Top Box" goals in quality and efficiency. It reports on the results of site visits to each organization and provides a series of cultural characteristics, key strategies, and successful practices common across each of these health systems that any organization can consider implementing. Click here to download the guide.

Through a contract with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Office of Communications and Knowledge Transfer, HRET is building awareness and supporting implementation of evidence-based tools and research. One focus of this work is the spread of awareness and use of the electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Five new case studies on the experiences of a diverse range of care settings that have integrated ePSS in their health IT systems are now available on the AHRQ web site. To learn more about these projects, visit http://www.ahrq.gov/about/casestudies/pcm/, or contact Chris Hund at mailto:chund@aha.org?subject=New%20Case%20Studies%20Now%20Available%20on%20AHRQ%20Web%20Site.

 

The new June issue of Health Services Research features articles on quality and outcomes, public programs, health care utilization, health information technology, and more. To learn more and access articles online, visit http://www.hsr.org/.

HRET is currently seeking a Research Specialist to provide assistance and programmatic support for HRET projects and to plan and execute communication and research development activities. The incumbent will work with internal and external partners and with HRET research staff on logistical, administrative, and communication functions on multiple projects. HRET is also seeking two Program Managers, who will support the Business team and lead improvement initiatives, as well as a Director of Programs and Partnership Development. The incumbent director will provide innovative and substantial support in furthering the AHA National Equity of Care strategy and will be responsible for building strong relationships with internal and external partners to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of the major priorities outlined in the AHA Equity of Care strategy. Click here for more information about career opportunities at HRET.

 

The new HRET report Improving Health Equity through Data Collection AND Use: A Guide for Hospital Leaders, uses exploratory interviews with three hospitals and a review of the literature to identify key strategies hospitals have adopted to streamline the data collection process. Some of the key strategies include engaging senior leadership, defining goals for data collection, and combining disparities data collection with existing reporting requirements. An accompanying review of the literature highlighted several approaches for using the patient data collected by hospitals, such as using an equity scorecard to report organizational performance, informing and customizing language translation services provided, and reviewing performance indicators such as length of stay, admissions, and avoidable readmissions, among others. To meet the needs of their diverse populations, hospitals and health systems need to bridge the gap between collecting meaningful patient data and reviewing the data to identify inequities in health care provision and utilization, and to implement simple yet effective interventions to improve care for patients. Click here to download the guide. Click here to view the video on H&HN Daily.

 

The audio file and presentation slides of two recent webinars on disparities in care co-sponsored by HRET and the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital are now available for downloading on the Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) website at http://www.hpoe.org/hpoe/audioconferences.shtml. In “Addressing Disparities in Hospital Readmissions: Developing Strategies for Diverse Populations,” originally broadcast on April 28, a panel of national experts reviewed the latest evidence on racial/ethnic disparities in hospital readmission rates and showcased innovative strategies to address and prevent them, with a particular focus on multicultural and minority populations. Collecting and using patients’ race, ethnicity, and language data to design interventions for reducing disparities was the topic of the January 27 webinar, “Tools for Measuring and Monitoring Equity in Quality: The Hospital Perspective.” This webinar featured case study presentations from Baylor Health Care System, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and University of New Mexico Hospitals.