FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 7, 2008

Contact: Nancy Strassel
(513) 531-0200

NEW LOCAL HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE DATA NOW AVAILABLE
ON UPDATED WEBSITE
Quality Improvement Effort Resulting in Better Patient Outcomes

Information on how area hospitals performed in 2007 treating three important health conditions – heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia – is now available at www.gchchospitalquality.org. These conditions are three common reasons for hospitalizations in the Tristate.

Hospitals were measured on whether patients with these conditions received all of the recommended treatment for which they were eligible during their hospital stay.

“Cincinnati-area hospitals use this important information to improve the care they provide to their patients,” said Colleen O’Toole, PhD, Greater Cincinnati Health Council president. The data collection effort is part of the Hospital Quality Improvement Project, a joint quality improvement initiative of the Health Council and the Ohio Hospital Association, in which hospitals voluntarily share information on best practices in order to raise the quality of care being delivered throughout the community.

Area hospitals are committed to both public transparency and accountability, O’Toole said. “Making these data available publicly gives consumers reliable information that they can use for their own education and for discussion with their physicians,” O’Toole said. Now that the hospitals have reported data for three years, trend information is available as well.

For congestive heart failure, the 2007 overall community average (percent of eligible patients receiving all recommended care measures at participating hospitals) is 82 percent, up from 76 percent in 2006 and from 62 percent in 2005. The overall community average for heart attack is now 86 percent, holding steady since 2006. In 2005, the heart attack community average was 82 percent.

For pneumonia, the overall community average is 75 percent, up from 64 percent in 2006 (a 2005 community average is not available for pneumonia). “For hospitals, the goal is that they use the information on their performance to improve patient outcomes, and we are indeed showing positive results,” O’Toole said. “These trends mean lives are being saved.”

Between 2006 and 2007, the Greater Cincinnati area average improved for each of four specific congestive heart failure measures. For the eight specific heart attack performance measures, the area average improved or remained the same for five measures, and declined slightly for three additional measures. For the eight pneumonia indicators, averages improved for seven measures and remained at a perfect score of 100 percent for one additional measure.

Hospitals are continually improving patient outcomes, O’Toole said, by comparing their performance to neighboring hospitals as well as to others across the state and then by sharing information with one another to improve their internal processes and practices. Hospitals also compare themselves to national benchmarks. Both state and national benchmarks are on the website.

Users can search the website by hospital name to see how an individual facility compares to others in the area. For each of the 20 hospitals listed, users can find out:

• How often hospitals follow eight recommended care guidelines for heart attack
• How often hospitals follow four recommended care guidelines for congestive heart failure
• How often hospitals follow eight recommended care guidelines for pneumonia
• Average length of hospital stay for nine conditions such as heart attack, stroke and pneumonia (shorter length of stay usually indicates a more favorable outcome)
• Mortality for the same nine conditions

“This is the kind of information people need to make them more knowledgeable health care decision-makers,” said Sharron DiMario, president of the Employer Health Care Alliance. "As Cincinnati area residents, we should all be pleased that our hospitals are leading the way in the state of Ohio by putting quality data into the hands of consumers.”

The indicators focus on some of the most common and costly conditions that hospitals treat. The hospitals are rated on care guidelines that are widely accepted across the country as best practices by such organizations as the Joint Commission and the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program/American Osteopathic Association, national organizations that accredit hospitals.

“This report is really about what hospitals do with the data,” said Robert Graham, MD, Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, medical consultant to the project. “The purpose of the quality improvement project is not to single out any hospital as ‘best’ or ‘worst.’ It is about working together to make continual changes that improve care. As hospitals learn from one another and implement changes, the idea is that all provide better and better care for patients. Collaboration is a cornerstone of this effort.”

“This effort not only sets the bar higher for each participating hospital. It raises the bar for the entire community,” O’Toole said.

The Greater Cincinnati Health Council developed the website on behalf of participating hospitals. Data on the website are updated annually.

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Hospital Quality Improvement Project (HQIP) Participating Hospitals

Atrium Medical Center

Bethesda North Hospital

Brown County General Hospital

CMH Regional Health System/Clinton Memorial Hospital

Dearborn County Hospital

Fort Hamilton Hospital

Good Samaritan Hospital

Highland District Hospital

Margaret Mary Community Hospital

McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital

Mercy Hospital Anderson

Mercy Hospital Clermont

Mercy Hospital Fairfield

Mercy Hospital Mt. Airy

Mercy Hospital Western Hills

St. Luke Hospital East

St. Luke Hospital West

The Christ Hospital

The Jewish Hospital

University Hospital

*Adult, acute care facilities in the Tristate are eligible to participate.