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Sunday, January 23, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - Statewide medical error reporting and quality system

Ella Johnson of the Evansville Courier& Press has a story today that gives the Evansville perspective on one of Governor Daniel's first Executive Orders - #05-10: Directive to establish medical error reporting and quality system. Some quotes:

State health officials are preparing to work with hospitals and health care providers statewide to develop a new system for reporting medical errors and making the information available to the public.

The Indiana Department of Health is required to establish a medical error reporting and quality system under an executive order signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels. The governor said medical error reporting systems are being implemented across the country to improve health care and demonstrate that procedures can be put in place to reduce medical mistakes.

But Evansville's two hospitals have been gathering quality data for several years and voluntarily submit information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Officials at Deaconess Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center say they are prepared to provide the data the governor is requesting.

"We feel it is extremely important for the community to be well informed when they make their medical care decisions," said Dr. Kevin Neese, St. Mary's chief medical officer. "It holds us accountable for the quality of patient care and it internally motivates us to do better."

St. Mary's and Deaconess are involved in several efforts with outside organizations - at the national and regional levels - to improve hospital quality and safety. They are among the 89 acute care hospitals in Indiana that provide data for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Quality Initiative on patient care for heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. [see note 1] * * *

The hospital data became public this month for the first time when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began posting the Hospital Compare report on its Web site. The Indiana Department of Health uses much of the same data for its new Hospital Consumer Report that went online in December. [see note 2] * * *

Note 1. Here is the link to the "Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Quality Initiative on patient care for heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia" referenced above. Using it, you can learn how Indiana hospitals rated against the national standard of care in three specific areas: heart attach, heart failure, and pneumonia. The tests are simple - was the heart attack patient given aspirin at arrival, etc. See this page for details.

Note 2. Here is the link to the State of Indiana's Hospital Consumer Reports Search Page. Once you have located a hospital, scroll down the entire page - quite a lot of information is available.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 23, 2005 11:08 AM
Posted to Indiana Government