Together, the two entities plan to collaborate with emergency physicians at participating hospitals across the state to develop best practices to improve patient experience and outcomes in emergency departments. The initiative is called the Michigan Emergency Department Improvement Collaborative.
According to Keith Kocher, MD, project director and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, those involved in the initiative are interested in collaboratively improving the delivery and outcomes for patients across the entire spectrum of emergency care, including diagnostic testing, treatment and transitions of care into the hospital and back to the community.
“We plan to have representation from EDs in a variety of settings — urban, rural, academic and community — to ensure we all learn from each other,” said Dr. Kocher.
Under the initiative, participants will:
- Work on improving the way emergency care is provided
- Guide quality improvement efforts by evaluating current patterns of care
- Develop tools to help providers help each other improve; and
- Delivering accurate and timely feedback to drive performance
The Michigan Emergency Department Improvement Collaborative — which will initially include eight to 10 hospital EDs — is currently developing the data infrastructure and reporting system that will collect information from participating hospitals. In subsequent years, the collaborative plans to expand to additional hospitals.
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