Preventing Avoidable Heart Failure Hospitalizations
A chronic disease, heart failure is the most common reason for admission to the hospital among older adults. In March 2011, the Center for Transforming Healthcare launched an initiative to help us better understand why patients with heart failure periodically experience severe worsening of their condition to a degree that leads to hospitalization.
Heart Failure Hospitalizations
The goal of this project is to better understand why patients with heart failure periodically experience severe worsening of their condition to a degree that leads to hospitalization. Identifying the specific causes of such deteriorations will permit participating hospitals to design and implement focused interventions targeted to each important cause. The hospitals and health systems participating in this project, which was launched in collaboration with the American College of Physicians, investigated how hospitals and community-based physician practices can work together more effectively to prevent avoidable hospitalizations for people with heart failure.
Project Team
Cedars-Sinai Health System, California
Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
Froedtert Hospital, Wisconsin
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, New York
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Illinois
The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Maryland
Virtua, New Jersey
In collaboration with the American College of Physicians, all project teams used Robust Process Improvement® (RPI®) to identify causes and develop solutions to avoidable heart failure hospitalizations. RPI is a fact-based, systematic, and data-driven problem-solving methodology that incorporates tools and concepts from Lean Six Sigma and change management. The methodology and solutions were then tested, validated, and spread to other organizations through a pilot project with additional hospitals that did not have Lean Six Sigma expertise.
Project Outcomes
The project team worked to:
- Identify the specific causes of these deteriorations, permitting participating hospitals to design focused solutions targeted to each cause.
- Investigate how hospitals and community-based physician practices can work together more effectively to prevent avoidable hospitalizations for people with heart failure.
- Make lessons learned and solutions developed widely available to all health care organizations.
These targeted solutions will ultimately improve the quality of life for people with heart failure and reduce unnecessary costs associated with their care.
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Improvement Topics
- Hand Hygiene
- Hand-off Communications
- Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries Prevention
- Preventing Avoidable Heart Failure Hospitalizations
- Preventing Falls
- Reducing C. Diff Infections
- Reducing Sepsis Mortality
- Safe and Effective Use of Insulin
- Safe Surgery
- Safety Culture
- Surgical Site Infections
- Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Prevention