Case Studies
The ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ Association produces case studies on its member organizations across a wide range of health-care topics.
The heart failure program began in 1995. The hospital developed a multidisciplinary heart failure clinic and inpatient team. In 2010, the medical staff supported each patient receive congestive heart failure education with transitions of care in a nurse-run clinic one week after discharge and a…
The project began with a focus on CHF readmissions. As the multidisciplinary team saw decreases in those readmissions, the health center realized the positive effect they were having on all-cause readmissions as well. They then shifted their focus to all-cause readmissions. The organization's…
This facility's coronary artery stents per admission rate was consistently higher than the national benchmark. Increased stent use can expose patients to greater risk and drives up costs, while not necessarily improving patient outcomes. Intensive, case-by-case review of outliers by…
Variation and delays in the early mobilization of patients in the ICU can result in an increased length of stay, poorer functional outcomes and an increased cost-per-patient stay. A team was created to develop a consistent process for patient mobilization for physicians and nursing staff to follow…
The hospital recognized an urgent need to improve the current rate of colorectal cancer screening and to identify precancerous lesions at an earlier stage in the normal risk population. In 2011, the hospital developed a CRC screening initiative involving 38 primary care physicians,…
Ascension Health created a business unit called Transformational Development. It is charged with identifying potential changes and innovations to address those challenges. It addresses six platforms: early life interventions; senior care; population-based care and chronic care; transformation in…
The Problem--Emergency departments were at capacity or beyond it, extending wait times. This resulted in a dissatisfied patient population and a patient safety issue, as many patients left before receiving treatment. One literature review study showed that 46 percent of ED patients who left without…
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Recognizing the need to integrate physicians and other providers into its quality improvement program, Memorial Health System created an innovative training curriculum designed to educate physicians on Lean/Six Sigma tools and techniques while generating feedback and project suggestions. The course…
A Safe Patient Handling program (SPH) was initiated in 2006. A SPH vendor was chosen based upon employee product trial, evidence-based research with documented success rates, clinical support and the guarantee of a ROI of 60 percent reduction in employee injuries. A vendor-driven house-wide…