Becker's Spine Review

60 HEALTHCARE NEWS Perioperative care, collaboration & the 'dirty dozen': How hospitals are adressing patient safety concerns By Marcus Robertson O ne in every 10 patients is harmed while receiving hospital care in high-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. e WHO also estimates that among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De- velopment, including the U.S., 15 percent of hospital expenses come from addressing patient safety failures. A January 2020 Yale School of Medicine study found 22,000 prevent- able hospital patient deaths per year in the U.S., and healthcare lead- ers are working to lower those numbers. Here is how four healthcare leaders described their patient safety goals and wins this year to Becker's Hospital Review: Note: Responses have been lightly edited for style and clarity. Question: What patient safety goals have you and your organization set for 2021? Scott Hayworth, MD. CEO, CareMount Health Solutions (West- chester, N.Y.): For 2021, one of the broad areas we have focused on [at CareMount] is perioperative care. As we transition lower-risk surgeries and pro- cedures out of hospitals and ASCs and into our office-based surgi- cal suites, we have developed practices to ensure patient safety and comfort. For example, we are integrating the QA processes and stan- dardizing patient care workflows across our 17 office-based surgical practices in order to maintain the same high quality of care at each location. David Christensen, MD. Senior vice president of medical affairs, Valley Children's Healthcare (Madera, Calif.) Our board of directors and CEO have mandated that we eliminate all harm to patients. As such, we have set our hospital-acquired con- ditions goals to zero. We have been working with [the Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety Network] and other children's hospitals to incorporate best practices and to learn from each other. David Lee, MD. Senior vice president and CMO, Virginia Hospital Center (Arlington): Our 2021 goals for patient safety are to decrease hospitalwide mortal- ity for cardiac and pulmonary conditions, stroke and especially sepsis. Hospital-acquired infections are always a concern, so attention will be on avoiding central line infections and urinary tract infections. Since the hospital is so busy, throughput is an area of concern — things like emergency department flow, decreasing length of stay and robust home/outpatient care to avoid unnecessary hospitalizations. Pennsylvania hospitals asks court to blockpurchase of physician group in hopes of landing winning bid for practice By Alan Condon A llentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Physicians Group reached a deal to acquire a multispecialty group, but a motion filed by two area hospitals could halt the sale, The Morning Call reported Sept. 28. Scranton, Pa.-based Moses Taylor Hospital and Regional Hospital of Scranton, affiliates of Commonwealth Health System, also hope to acquire Delta Medix in Scranton, which agreed to sell its practice to Lehigh Valley in July, but did not publicly announce the deal. Delta Medix features more than 25 providers that special- ize in urology, general surgery, cancer care and vascular surgery, among other specialties, according to its website. The practice's owners said they chose to sell to Lehigh Val- ley because it offers services, particularly in cancer care, that would help make the practice the "premier healthcare and cancer treatment center in Northeastern Pennsylva- nia," according to the report. The practice hopes the deal can be finalized by Dec. 31. An attorney for Delta Medix cited concerns about quality of care as a key reason for rejecting offers from Moses Tay- lor Hospital and Regional Hospital of Scranton, The Morn- ing Call reported. But a 2017 agreement between Delta Medix and Scranton Quincy Hospital Co., an affiliate of Commonwealth, has caused a dispute between the parties. The agreement allegedly gives Commonwealth the "right of first refusal" to nix any sale of Del- ta Medix to another party, as long as it matches the sale price and all other conditions, according to the report. The health system stated in court papers that it offered more money than Lehigh Valley and it can meet all other conditions, including offering employment to all Delta Me- dix physicians and staff. Delta Medix rejected the offer from the two hospitals, and claims the section of the cancer care network agreement regarding the sale of its practice is not binding because the hospitals cannot match all the services that Lehigh Val- ley will provide, according to the report. n

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