Stories of Success! Health IT's Impact on National Safety Goals & Priorities

CHICAGO (February 2, 2010) - Emphasizing the link between improvements in healthcare quality and patient safety and health IT - HIMSS and ASQ [1] (American Society for Quality) announce the selection of 16 real-world and peer-reviewed case study submissions.  The case studies were selected for inclusion in Stories of Success! Leveraging HIT, Improving Quality & Safety [2] program.  Members of the HIMSS Patient Safety & Quality Outcomes Committee and additional subject matter experts from The Joint Commission, the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the American Society for Quality contributed to the review process.  The National Quality Forum also supports the project.

Introduced in October 2009, Stories of Success! showcases outstanding accomplishments in the adoption and use of information technology to achieve improved patient safety, quality, effectiveness and efficiency. The call for case studies highlights the fulfillment of the national priorities established by the National Priorities Partnership (NPP) [3]and The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) [4].

"With the submissions we received, those who are using IT every day showed us and identified how technology helps support the six priorities of National Priorities Partnership and The Joint Commission's national patient safety goals and priorities.  These from-the-field examples, focused on national quality and performance improvement, pinpointed technology's positive impact on the lives of patients," said Louis H. Diamond, M.B.Ch.B., F.A.C.P., F.C.P. (S.A.), chair of the HIMSS NPP/JC (National Priorities Partnership/The Joint Commission) Work Group that is leading this project. Dr. Diamond, also chair of the HIMSS Patient Safety & Quality Outcomes Steering Committee, is Vice President and Medical Director for Thomson Reuters.

For this first Stories of Success! program, 16 submissions ranked as finalists in either Tier 1 or Tier
2.  Six "Tier 1" applicants (the most informative submissions aligned with the Stories of
Success! purpose) were selected, and 10 "Tier 2" applicants documented additional impressive success stories to highlight and share with the industry.

Tier 1 Organizations
Bassett Health Network, Cooperstown, NY
Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, Maine
Mercy Des Moines - Mercy Heart Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa
Queens Long Island Medical Center, Queens, NY
Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association, Rochester, NY
University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

Tier 2 Organizations
Advocate Health Care, Chicago, Ill.
Brigham and Women's Hospital,  Boston, Mass.
Elgin Gastroenterology, South Barrington, Ill.
Graybill Medical Group, Southern California
Kaiser Permanente, Southern California Region
Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wis.
Memorial Healthcare System, Miramar, Fla.
Memorial Hermann, Houston, Texas
NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, Ill.
Norwood Hospital, Norwood, Mass.

"These case studies, demonstrating as they do real-world successes in the application of change management and process improvement tools as a prelude to HIT implementation, will serve as excellent, real-world examples for those endeavoring to become "meaningful users." They can and will serve as beacons in the night," said Joseph Fortuna, MD, chair-elect of the Health Care Division of ASQ and CEO of PRISM, a nonprofit corporation seeking to sustainably improve quality and operations of health care practices.

The case studies [5] are posted on the HIMSS Web site with the next call for Stories of Success! [6] opening in early March.

"With the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act now underway, the information gathered in these case studies will help the industry understand how valuable health IT as a tool can be to improving patient safety and quality," said David A. Collins, MHA, CPHQ, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, who is HIMSS director, healthcare information systems. "By sharing notable quality improvement scenarios, we hope these best practice examples will serve as guidance to others for improved healthcare delivery and demonstrate the benefits of health IT adoption."

About ASQ
ASQ (The American Society for Quality) has been the world's leading authority on quality for more than 60 years. With more than 85,000 individual and organizational members - with nearly 4,000 healthcare members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As a champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., ASQ is a founding sponsor of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.

About HIMSS
HIMSS is a comprehensive healthcare-stakeholder membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., Brussels, Singapore, and other locations across the United States, HIMSS represents more than 23,000 individual members, of which 73% work in patient care delivery settings. HIMSS also includes over 380 corporate members and nearly 30 not-for-profit organizations that share our mission of transforming healthcare through the effective use of information technology and management systems. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its educational, professional development, and advocacy initiatives designed to promote information and management systems' contributions to ensuring quality patient care.