Quality

As important as quality is to the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Mission, the science of measuring it is still a work in progress. Increasingly, business groups and the public at large are calling for quality data that provide apples-to-apples comparisons of providers. As a result, new standards are emerging at the national level.

Reporting Quality
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is committed to both providing quality care and publicly reporting on quality outcomes. We participate in multiple public reporting projects, and you may review our hospital-specific results through the following initiatives.

To view results, search each of the following Web sites by hospital name. Wheaton Franciscan hospitals include Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - St. Joseph, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - St. Francis, and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - Elmbrook Memorial and The Wisconsin Heart Hospital.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS):
This data set currently includes twenty-two clinical interventions taken from the core measures used by the Joint Commission on Accreditation on Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The measures are key clinical interventions that medical experts agree should be taken to treat heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia and infection prevention in surgical patients.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation on Healthcare Organizations:
(JCAHO) now publicly reports results of the quality measures it monitors.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association (CheckPoint)
The CheckPoint Initiative currently includes twenty-two clinical measures, along with additional patient safety goals using inpatient data from all adult patients. A public Web site launched in March 2004 that now has 128 hospitals statewide voluntarily participating. Wheaton Franciscan is taking a leading role on the task force and in committee work.

Leapfrog:
The Leapfrog Group data set has been heavily promoted by businesses nationally. The measures focus on implementation of medication technology, intensivists in intensive care units, volumes of procedures performed and patient safety processes. Wheaton Franciscan began participation in August 2003.

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality
The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality was started in 2002 to improve patient care through measuring performance; design and promote quality improvement initiatives; and advocate for enlightened policy to support performance improvement. Current membership includes twenty-one physician groups, twenty hospitals and eight health plans from twenty-five delivery systems in Wisconsin. The Collaborative’s truly unique model is increasingly recognized as a national leader in the public reporting field. Having five additional hospitals included in its reports only enhances the results for the community—both for businesses and ultimately—patients. Data for Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints, Elmbrook Memorial, St. Francis, St. Joseph and The Wisconsin Heart Hospital is available.

Commitment to Continuous Quality Improvement
We pay very close attention to reporting data and monitor it for continuous quality improvement as it gives us the chance to see how we are doing relative to others and target areas where we need to improve.

The scores reflect the percentage of encounters in which the preferred practice occurred. Ultimately, we would like to see all our scores as close as possible to 100%. For example, one measure will report how frequently an aspirin is administered to a patient experiencing a heart attack within 24 hours of admission. This is one way to thin the blood and reduce stress on the heart.

Public education is another enormous benefit. Consumers now have a valid way to compare hospitals, and they will simultaneously learn about the type of interventions they should expect and why they are important.

These reporting initiatives are in their infancy, and their leaders have committed to collect and report on additional measures in the future as data collection becomes more sophisticated. We know that our patients will benefit greatly from this progress, and there is no doubt that consumers will increasingly make their health care choices based on these public reports.

Setting the Standard for Patient Safety
“The knowledgeable health reporter for the Boston Globe, Betsy Lehman, died from an overdose during chemotherapy. Willie King had the wrong leg amputated. Ben Kolb was eight years old when he died during minor surgery due to a drug mix-up."

These chilling scenarios comprise the dramatic open to one of the most significant medical studies in modern health care, the Institute of Medicine’s, To Err is Human. Released in 1999, the study’s findings rocked the health care industry to its core:

44,000 to 225,000 people die each year due to medical errors.
Medical errors cost as much as $37.6 billion a year.
Hospital acquired infections result in 20,000 to 80,000 deaths per year.
42% of people believe they have personally experienced a medical mistake.

Since the release of this study, the issues of quality and patient safety have appropriately received top priority at health care organizations throughout the country.

At Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, quality and patient safety have always been at the core of our mission to provide exceptional and compassionate health care. We continually bolster our efforts in these areas and have made several recent enhancements to our quality oversight agenda.

The 5 Million Lives Campaign
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is participating in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) 5 Million Lives Campaign. This campaign is a voluntary initiative to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm over the next two years (December 2006-December 2008). This campaign challenges American hospitals to adopt 12 changes in care that save lives and reduce patient injuries:

Deploy rapid response teams at the first sign of patient decline
Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for Acute Myocardial Infarction to prevent deaths from heart attack
Prevent adverse drug events (ADEs) by implementing medication reconciliation
Prevent central line infections by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps
Prevent surgical site infections by reliably delivering the correct perioperative antibiotics at the proper time
Prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps
Prevent harm from high-alert medications starting with a focus on anticoagulants, sedatives, narcotics and insulin
Reduce surgical complications by reliably implementing all of the changes in care recommended by SCIP, the Surgical Care Improvement Project
Prevent pressure ulcers by reliably using science-based guidelines for their prevention
Reduce methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA infection by reliably implementing scientifically proven infection control practices
Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for congestive heart failure to avoid readmissions
Get boards on board by defining and spreading the best-known leveraged processes for hospital Boards of Directors, so that they can become far more effective in accelerating organizational progress toward safe care

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is committed to full implementation of the IHI’s recommended interventions.

The IMPACT Network
Wheaton Franciscan System, Inc. is a member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s IMPACT Network. This network is a collaboration of health care organizations committed to spearheading and sharing breakthrough changes, innovations, and initiatives that improve the quality of health care.

The Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Patient Safety Council
The Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare (WFH) – Southeastern (SE) Wisconsin (WI) Patient Safety Council (PSC) oversees patient safety and error reduction in all WFH-SE Wisconsin acute care facilities by driving improvement and assuring accountability for implementation of system designed patient safety strategies. This multi-disciplinary Council provides oversight for patient safety initiatives and related metrics; recommends, develops and monitors/assures implementation of patient safety strategies; and promotes process improvement through and the implementation of best practice processes. The Patient Safety Council reports directly to the Quality Committee of the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare–Southeast Wisconsin Board of Directors.