The facilities participating in the Florida Hospital Association's Hospital Engagement Network avoided $170 million in healthcare costs over a three-year period by focusing on improving 11 areas with the highest incidences of preventable patient harm, according to a report from the FHA.
The 11 focus areas were: Adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated blood stream infections, early elective deliveries, falls, obstetric harm, pressure ulcers, readmissions, surgical site infections, ventilator-associated events and venous thromboembolism.
Through the initiative, the 77 participating hospitals worked with other organizations across the nation to share best practices concerning the focus areas. The hospitals also implemented a tool to measure their overall harm score and tracked their progress toward their overall goal of zero harm.
Additionally, the participating facilities improved patient and family engagement, which the FHA noted is an essential part of making care safer.
Through the FHA HEN, the organizations prevented 15,000 hospital readmissions, 4,649 adverse drug events, 2,711 early elective surgeries, 1,081 catheter-associated urinary tract infections and nearly 1,000 injuries from falls, among other improvements.
Over the three-year period, the hospitals improved care for more than 27,500 patients, according to the report.
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