How do we measure quality? Throughout the hospital we measure it in numerous ways, and we use the measurements we gather to make needed improvements system wide.
We continuously evaluate the quality of care provided to patients by measuring:
Some of our measures, called Core Measures, are provided by and reported to the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). Others are required by the certifying and accrediting organizations to which we subscribe, including The Joint Commission (TJC), the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Heart Association's "Get With the Guidelines" Program and the South Carolina Safe Care Program.
Following are several of the key patient-care services we monitor and the ways in which we measure the quality and safety of the care we provide.
Because “time is muscle" and “time is brain,” we take steps to ensure that our heart and stroke patients receive appropriate care as soon as they pass through our doors.
For these patients we measure
We pride ourselves on providing the highest level of orthopedic care. Our Joint Replacement Center (JRC), which recently received The Joint Commission's disease-specific certification for total hip and total knee replacement, has also been recognized by Blue Cross Blue Shield as a Center of Distinction for quality outcomes in joint replacement.
We and other certifying bodies measure the quality of orthopedic care in a number of ways, including:
Since delivering our first baby on May 1, 1944, we’ve continued our tradition of providing excellent maternity care to mothers and infants for more than 70 years. We take pride in caring for our newborns, and our quality is measured by
For the safety of patients and caregivers, all hospitals are required to provide pneumonia and flu vaccinations to inpatients of a certain age during their hospital stay. Our current rate of pneumonia and flu vaccination is 96 percent, compared with a national average of 93 percent.
We base the use of radiology and imaging services on claims reports to ensure that we are using the services appropriately and only when medically necessary. The majority of our scores in this area are below state and national averages, which indicates our adherence to guidelines.
The two areas in which we are working to improve those scores are:
With more than 185,000 outpatient visits to our hospital each year—and another 50,000 to our Emergency Department (ED)—we take the care of our patients very seriously. Measures of our ED quality of care include: