A recent article published by Kaiser Health Group, a healthcare news organization, reported Medicare’s list of healthcare facilities nationwide that incurred hospital-acquired infections and other complications throughout 2013-14.
Eleven Kansas hospitals, out of 758 nationwide, were recommended to address further improvement plans for hospital-acquired infections and other complications Medicare considers avoidable. Geary Community Hospital, among the other 10 Kansas healthcare facilities, is addressing those patient safety issues in accordance with Medicare requirements.
“While we fully support the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program, it is important to understand there are a limited number of hospitals actually evaluated in these Medicare measures,” stated Joe Stratton, GCH Chief Executive Officer. “Healthcare facilities such as children’s hospitals, veteran’s hospitals and critical access hospitals are exempt. There are 127 healthcare facilities in Kansas and after all these exemptions that leaves approximately 40 hospitals to be evaluated. On top of that, it is a requirement that Medicare must cite a quarter of these hospitals each year.”
The evaluation is in accordance with the Medicare Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program and evaluates the frequency of complications and infections with patients. The most recent published data is for calendar years of 2013-14. Infections may include urinary tract and blood stream infections while complications may include hip fractures and blood clots. This type of data is collected only in Intensive Care Unit patients who are likely the sickest of the sick, and therefore are more susceptible to infections.
“From our perspective at GCH, just one acquired infection or complication is over our limit,” stated Stratton. “Like other hospitals across the nation, we have implemented guidelines and procedures to minimize the number of infections and complications. We began addressing these important aspects of care back in 2010 and have since made significant improvements. In a two year period. we had a total of two infections that were caught and treated during the patient’s stay. So far in 2015, we have not had any infections or complications.”
The Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction program is jut one of several measurements tracked and reported to federal agencies. “At GCH we are actively working to follow best practice guidelines to ensure the safety of all our patients,” stated Stratton.