St. Vincent Charity kicks off participation in national quality improvement initiative

11/19/2010

CLEVELAND—St. Vincent Charity Medical Center announced today that is has been selected to participate in the Aligning Forces for Quality  (AF4Q) Hospital Quality Network, a quality improvement network of more than 130 hospitals aimed at improving quality, efficiency and equity of care delivered in hospitals across the country and in Cleveland.

St. Vincent Charity Medical Center was hand-picked by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated to improving the health and health care of all Americans, to support efforts to improve healthcare quality.

The AF4Q Hospital Quality Network includes three separate quality improvement initiatives aimed at helping hospitals to tackle key issues such as racial and ethnic disparities, time spent in emergency departments, readmissions of patients recently discharged and improving language services in hospitals.

As the only Cleveland-area participant in the Improving Language Services component, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center will be positioned to improve safety and quality of care of limited English proficiency (LEP) patients. St. Vincent will work to ensure that LEP patients receive both an initial assessment and discharge instruction from qualified language services providers and will screen admitted patients for preferred spoken and written language.

As a participant in the Reducing Readmissions component, St. Vincent will be positioned to make cutting-edge and lasting changes to improve the quality of cardiac care with the specific goal of reducing readmission rates. The initiative will focus on cardiac care because, whether experiencing a heart attack, heart failure or other conditions, the recommended standard of care for cardiac patients is clear and accepted among medical professionals nationwide.

“As Ohio and the nation look at improving care, it’s important that we provide local models of reforms that are good for everyone,” said Sister Judith Ann Karam, CSA, president and CEO of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. “St. Vincent Charity’s participation in this program shows that we are committed to being a leader in improving patient care and increasing efficiency to produce better outcomes.”

Staff at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center will work together to lead efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient care by piloting and testing new quality improvement strategies over an 18-month period. Staff will collect and submit data which will be examined by patient race, ethnicity and/or language.

“By participating in the Hospital Quality Network, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center will be on the frontline of improving patient care and increasing efficiency to produce better outcomes for patients in our community and nationwide,” said Dr. Giesele Robinson Greene, Chief Medical Officer. “This program will empower our staff to reduce avoidable readmissions and improve the delivery and availability of language services while developing and spreading replicable quality improvement strategies that can help health care providers across the country.”

It’s all part of Aligning Forces for Quality, the Foundation’s signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, as well as reduce racial and ethnic disparities and provide models for national reform.  Better Health Greater Cleveland was selected by RWJF to lead the local AF4Q alliance in Ohio. In all, 17 regions of the country have been designated as part of Aligning Forces. In each region, a range of efforts to help doctors, nurses and hospitals improve quality – as well as engage consumers to be better patients – is being tested.

Funded by RWJF, AF4Q and the AF4Q Hospital Quality Network are coordinated by The Center for Health Care Quality at The George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health and Health Services, which serves as the national program office for the Aligning Forces for Quality Initiative.

About St. Vincent Charity Medical Center
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center is Cleveland’s faith-based, high-quality healthcare provider. Our distinguished doctors and caregivers are devoted to treating every patient with clinical excellence and compassionate care. St. Vincent Charity Medical Center is home to the renowned Spine and Orthopedic Institute and the Center for Bariatric Surgery. Owned by the Sisters of Charity Health System, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center delivers health care you can believe in. The Sisters of Charity Health System is a family of hospitals, grant-making foundations, elder care and outreach organizations devoted to healing individual, families and communities. For more information, visit www.stvincentcharity.com.