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PeaceHealth Sacred Heart recognized for surgical quality by American College of Surgeons

For the second consecutive year, PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) for meritorious quality outcomes for surgical patient care.
October 29, 2014

(Springfield, Ore.)-For the second consecutive year, PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) for meritorious quality outcomes for surgical patient care. The 2013 award names PeaceHealth Sacred Heart, RiverBend as one of 43 hospitals in the United States to achieve the surgical outcomes measured by the ACS. Sacred Heart RiverBend is one of only 14 hospitals to receive this recognition for two or more consecutive years.

The national recognition places PeaceHealth Sacred Heart, RiverBend in the top 10 percent of hospitals that participate in the respected American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). A total of 445 hospitals participated in 2013.

“I am very proud of this award,” said David DeHaas, MD, Medical Director for Surgery at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart, RiverBend. “The NSQIP program has become a very respected database for quality improvement within the field of surgery, and many prestigious medical centers are utilizing significant resources to improve their performance on the NSQIP metrics.”

Surgeons performed a total of 14,648 procedures at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart, RiverBend during the 2013 calendar year. That number includes 8,673 inpatient and 5,975 outpatient procedures. Besides the obvious patient benefits, better outcomes also mean lower health care costs. When adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced or eliminated, health care costs also decline.

“We have already seen enormous cost-of-care savings based on decreased length of stay for our surgical patients, decrease in the number of surgical site infections, and overall reduction in our post-operative complication rates,” said Dr. DeHaas. “We have only begun to scratch the surface on the quality improvement results we can achieve as the institution and PeaceHealth system remain committed to these measures.”

As a participant in ACS NSQIP, PeaceHealth tracks the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collects data to inform patient safety and surgical care improvements. The hospital’s Surgical Quality Team uses the data to identify opportunities for improvement throughout the continuum of care, from pre-admission activities, through surgery and discharge.

The goal is to decrease length of stay, reduce complications and reduce costs for surgical patients so they can return to work and normal life activities sooner.

In assessing hospital performance, ACS NSQIP looked at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart’s performance in eight key areas:

  1. Percent of surgery patients who die within 30 days after surgery
  2. Percent of surgery patients who had to be reintubated unexpectedly during the post-operative period
  3. Percent of patients who are on a ventilator longer than 48 hours
  4. Percent of patients who experience kidney failure during or after surgery
  5. Percent of patients who experience cardiac complications within 30 days after surgery
  6. Percent of surgery patients who contract pneumonia as a complication of their surgical care
  7. Percent of patients who experience a surgical site infection within 30 days after surgery
  8. Percent of patients who experience a urinary tract infection as a complication of surgery

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. The program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively, and adjusts ratings to take into account any differences among hospitals in the difficulty of surgeries that they attempt and how sick their patients were at the time of surgery.

ACS NSQIP works to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure). This information provides a firm foundation for surgeons and hospitals to apply best practices to surgery.

For more information contact Monique Danziger at 5416863657 or [email protected]

 

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