Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/611784
10 PATIENT EXPERIENCE one of the busiest lung transplant programs in the United States. More than 80 lung transplants were performed in 2015, ranking the hospital fih in the nation. Additionally, the one year survival rate for lung transplant patients at St. Joseph's is close to 90 percent. St. Joseph's Barrow Neurological Institute remains one of the premier destinations in the world for neurology and neurosurgery and performs more brain surgeries annually than any hospital in the United States. ese world-class medical services partnered with delivering compassionate care provide our patients with the highest level of medical treatment and human kindness. Ken Sands, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer of Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center (Boston): To my mind the biggest patient wins in 2015 have been an increasing trend toward transparency with some real innovations starting to take place that will benefit patients both in terms of the patient experience and in terms of patient safety. At BIDMC we are continuing to advance the "open notes" concept which is the idea of making patients' medical records available to them as soon as the physician writes them. is enables patients to be educated about their care and keeps them engaged and knowledgeable. I think we've recognized the benefits of that in terms of the patient experience and also in some concrete ways, such as medication adherence and ability to ask intelligent questions of physicians. We are seeing that program spread nationally; more and more institutions are adopting an "open notes" system. We are also doing work to advance communication and resolution as an alternative to traditional litigation following medical errors. at's another example of transparency as a big win for patients. Other really neat examples include an initiative at Brigham and Women's where they now publicly report what they learn from adverse events through a program called Safety Matters. Another initiative at Geisinger Health System (Pa.) allows patients to rate their physicians online. On the horizon we are continuing to deploy technology for the transparency agenda. We are starting to explore a more sophisticated use of patient portals, including smartphone or tablet applications that allow patients to interface with their providers. I think that is where the transparency agenda will be moving next. n "As we transition to alternative payment models that aren't exclusively encounter-based, it creates a model where we can invest in this continuous connectivity, connecting with patients on a regular basis between visits to help them make progress." —William Bornstein, MD, PhD, CMO and Chief Quality Officer of Emory Healthcare (Atlanta)