Byline: Carly Harrington
Sep. 27--It's about saving lives and saving money.
In what participants call a 'unique' partnership, area hospitals and businesses are working together to improve patient safety and the bottom line.
For the past year, the Greater Knoxville Area Hospital Study Group has been sharing detailed clinical information to figure out what works, said Doug Henderlight, vice president of quality and continuum of care for St. Mary's Health System.
'When it reduces costs, saves lives, improves the quality of life, it's clear why we must do it,' Henderlight said.
The group -- which consists of all nine Knoxville-area hospitals, including Blount Memorial and Methodist Medical in Oak Ridge -- has spent the year working on its first project: reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia, or VAP, a condition that can develop in patients who are receiving mechanical ventilation.
Jack Lacey, chief medical officer for the University of Tennessee Medical Center and group co-chairman, said participating hospitals adopted a seven-step plan for dealing with the condition. It also began a poster campaign and produced a training video that included a message from Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt.
'We've got great momentum. We've got great partnerships and great results. We want to keep that going,' Lacey said.
Their efforts have paid off.
Hospitals have since seen a 30 percent reduction in the number of VAP cases, said Gaye Fortner, vice president of operations for HealthCare 21 Business Coalition, the sponsor of the group.
As a result, an estimated 60 people did not get VAP and 24 deaths have been prevented. Because each case can extend a person's average hospital stay by 13 days and cost up to $40,000, the reduction saved approximately $2.4 million, she said.
The group's efforts were recognized earlier this month by the state at its annual patient safety symposium.
HealthCare 21, which facilitates the monthly group meetings, has been working for years to get the area's hospitals to put aside their differences and work on a community health improvement project, Fortner said,
'We knew if they got together they would come up with solutions to provide better care,' she said.
The challenge, however, was getting highly competitive hospitals to feel comfortable sharing experiences and data, said David Clothier, co-chair of the group and controller and treasurer for Pilot Corp.
He said hospitals were 'very apprehensive' and it took years to get past the 'I hate you' stage.
'It was very hard. It was a lot of politics, gaming, positioning,' Clothier said.
Henderlight described the initial meetings 'like going on a blind date.'
'There was a certain level of discomfort, but when we got together we realized there are a lot of projects that we could undertake that would be a win, win, win, win,' Henderlight said.
Their work has had positive side effects, he said. It has helped to build a trust amongst the area's hospitals and has made it easier for everyone to sit down and talk about other issues like TennCare, he said.
It also provides physicians who work at more than one hospital a sense of familiarity.
Sandra Marshall, senior vice president of organizational effectiveness and clinical outcomes for Covenant Health, said the experience has been a 'journey.'
By working together, Marshall said, 'we can have an impact and save more lives in the community.'
The group is already working on its second project of developing Rapid Response Teams, a group of clinicians who bring critical care expertise to the patient's bedside.
Clothier said the group would eventually focus on some localized issues such as mental health and the over-prescribing of antibiotics.
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