IHA 2015 Quality Awards

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association's Institute for Innovations in Care and Quality, Quality Excellence Achievement Award recognizes Illinois hospital programs that improve safety, timeliness, efficiency, effectiveness, equity and patient-centeredness. The programs are evaluated based on progress in achieving the Triple Aim -- enhancing the patient experience, improving population health and reducing costs. iN 2015, three hospitals and two health systems were recognized for their achievements:

Sinai Health System, Chicago, “Helping Adults Breathe and Thrive: A Healthy Homes Approach to Improving Respiratory Health of Adults with Asthma.” In one year, the program reduced asthma-related emergency department visits by 66 PERCENT, hospitalizations by 57 percent and participants' daytime asthma symptoms by 67 percent.

HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital, Highland, “Patient-Centered Approach to Reducing Readmissions.” By improving their care coordination and expanding their multidisciplinary team approach to discharge planning, the hospital successfully reduced their readmission rates by 20 percent in the past two years.

Presence Saint Joseph Hospital, Elgin, for “Decreasing Venous ThromboembolismRate and Length of Stay for Total Joint Patients through an Interdisciplinary Orthopedic Co-management Collaborative.” New care guidelines and an early mobility program reduced acquired VTE rates by 87 percent. Efforts decreased hospital LOS by 65 percent for total joint patients and 46 percent for total knees.

HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Belleville, “Eliminating Medically Unnecessary Blood Transfusions at a Community Teaching Hospital.” By building new guidelines into the hospital's electronic health record, blood usage decreased by 30 percent. This new process is being implemented across the 13-hospital system.

AMITA Health, Arlington Heights, received the Tim Philipp Award for Excellence in Palliative Care for its efforts to “Increase Penetration of Appropriate Palliative Care Consultation in a Health System.” In a year's time, consultations increased more than 20 percent.

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