4 Leaders in Improving Quality Care

WellSpan Health is determined to improve health equity across its eight-hospital system headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. It has developed highly focused regional programs to address what is a national challenge: reducing or eliminating differences in life expectancy based on a patient’s race or ZIP code.

“We understand this is a long-term goal, but it’s the only measure that truly matters,” said Michael Seim, M.D., senior vice president and chief quality officer. “No one should have to live in a place where their race or ZIP code determines whether they die significantly younger than someone living just a few miles away.”

Closing the Equity Gap

WellSpan’s impact in this area is being felt throughout the communities it serves. It became one of the first health systems to earn the National Committee for Quality Assurance health equity accreditation. And more recently, it received the AHA Quest for Quality Prize.

The AHA Quest for Quality Prize is awarded annually to recognize leadership and innovation in health care, particularly in improving quality and advancing the health of individuals and communities. The 2024 award highlights hospitals and health systems that are making significant strides in providing high-quality, safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable, patient- and family-centered, and affordable care.

The organization’s strategy is built on three pillars: preventing premature death, promoting longevity and improving quality of life, with outcome measures used to track progress. For instance, when data showed that Hispanic patients needing an interpreter had lower breast cancer screening rates compared with other patients, WellSpan set three goals: to increase overall screening rates to 73%, boost screening rates in each racial and ethnic group by 1.25%, and reduce the number of patients without race/ethnicity/language (REL) data in their electronic health record (EHR) by 25%.

To achieve these goals, WellSpan implemented a multimodal approach, including a culturally and linguistically tailored outreach program targeting Spanish-speaking women overdue for screenings. By June 2023, two years after the baseline measurements, it exceeded all goals. Screening rates among Hispanic patients who speak Spanish and require an interpreter rose to 77.4%, REL data gaps were reduced by 50% and WellSpan’s race data-collection error rate fell to 1.76%, outperforming the national benchmark of 5%.

Forging Partnerships to Improve Outcomes

WellSpan’s mobile mammography program has forged partnerships with community-based organizations, enhancing its ability to reach diverse and underserved patients. Through a collaboration with a local insurance provider, the mobile breast-imaging unit offered private and discreet on-site screenings at 70 community events in 2023.

At these events, 1,011 individuals were screened, 63 under- or uninsured patients received screenings at no cost, and eight individuals were diagnosed with cancer that otherwise might have gone undetected.

In another outreach effort, WellSpan’s recuperative bed program provides unhoused patients with a safe place to continue healing after discharge. The health system leases nursing home spaces for these patients, and its social workers assist them in finding permanent housing. “Over the last five years, we’ve shifted from trying to do everything ourselves to focusing on finding key partners who can do certain things better,” Seim said.

Tackling Gun Violence

The credible messenger program is another example of WellSpan’s community collaboration. As part of the York City Gun Violence Initiative, the health system funded a liaison position to support gunshot victims and their families at WellSpan York Hospital.

In the first seven months of 2023, WellSpan York Hospital experienced a 43% reduction in gunshot wound patients overall and a 56% reduction in gunshot wounds with homicidal intent compared with the same period in 2022. WellSpan’s patient safety strategy also has yielded positive results.

The result was a 50% reduction in serious events between fiscal years 2020 and 2023, while the number of potential safety event entries doubled from 20,000 to more than 40,000 during the same period.

Award Finalists

The AHA also recognized three other organizations as finalists for the Quest for Quality Prize:

• Carilion Clinic, based in Roanoke, Virginia, leverages a teamwork-based strategy that has led to marked improvements in the reduction of health care-acquired infections, preventable harm following a surgical procedure, and falls with injury. Its systemwide mortality program and improvements to sepsis response and aspiration prevention have resulted in a 50% improvement in mortality.
• Jefferson Health, based in Philadelphia, deployed OnPoint, a comprehensive, unifying management system for improvement efforts in quality, safety, patient experience and health equity. In the last two fiscal years, sepsis mortality decreased 25% annually, saving nearly 700 lives, and central line-associated bloodstream infections decreased 15%, with 37 fewer infections in a two-year span.
• MUSC Health, based in Charleston, South Carolina, adopted a virtual-first strategy for some specialties, including neurology, pulmonology and primary care. The health system’s school-based telehealth program serves more than 100 schools and supports the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance, a statewide coalition serving more than 180 schools. This program provides physical and mental health care for children, including on-demand medical visits for common illnesses and trauma therapy.

Learn more about WellSpan Health and the finalists, watch the celebratory video and download the honoree booklet.