As America ages, healthcare professionals are going to face an increasing number of serious conditions. Patient care will improve when healthcare professionals find new pathways to enhancing clinical quality, safety, and cost. Between 600,000 and 700,000 spine surgical procedures take place each year in the United States. Post surgical infection rates, depending on procedure, impact between one and six percent of all patients. Participating hospitals will aim for providing prophylactic antibiotics within one hour prior to incision.
Collaboration is key to the success of the initiatives.
Over the next 12 months, hospitals will be sharing milestones, leveraging data derived from Premier Healthcare Informatics Perspective data set, the nation s largest clinical data warehouse, and learning from top performing hospitals from within the Premier network. This collaborative approach mirrors the breakthrough strategy initially deployed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a Premier strategic partner. Highlighted was a blueprint for how two traditionally competing disciplines orthopedics and neurosurgery found common ground to create a best practice that now treats a growing aging population. Since they ve devoted their efforts to improving their systems, the hospital has become a national leader in performing surgery. Other conference highlights Premier hospitals continued their work in improving stroke care, congestive heart failure treatment, and managing adverse drug events.