Missouri Hospital Association Recognized for Leadership in Quality Improvement

Will Receive Dick Davidson Quality Milestone Award for Allied Association Leadership;
Ohio Hospital Association also Honored

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2018) – The Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) is the 2018 recipient of the Dick Davidson Quality Milestone Award for Allied Association Leadership for its work to improve health care quality, the American Hospital Association (AHA) announced today. The Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) was selected for honorable mention for the 2018 award. The award, given to state, regional or metropolitan hospital associations that demonstrate leadership and innovation in quality improvement and contribute to national health care improvement efforts, will be presented July 26 at the 2018 AHA Leadership Summit in San Diego. 

“America’s hospitals and health systems are deeply committed to improving the safety of care for the patients and communities we proudly serve each day,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “Missouri and Ohio are enabling their members to transform care in their states. Learning from the success of others will allow the entire field to improve and will help elevate care that will benefit all patients and communities.”

To harness the transformational change occurring in health care, MHA and its members are implementing initiatives to achieve the Triple Aim of better health and better care at lower costs. Achieving the Triple Aim requires strategy, timing and resources. MHA has committed to all three by providing hospitals the technical and adaptive support needed to drive and realize improvement. Founded in 2014, MHA’s Strategic Quality Initiatives Department leads the association’s efforts to support members in delivering safe, high quality care.

Through robust support and an intense focus on quality performance, Missouri hospitals have achieved reductions in multiple quality metrics. Participation in state and national quality improvement initiatives, including the Hospital Improvement Innovation Network, also has supported strong quality improvement programming and implementation of evidence-based practices. This has helped Missouri hospitals improve across eight clinical topics, an increase from six last year. Those eight improvements include a 40 percent improvement on pressure ulcer care; a more than 20 percent decrease in colon, abdominal hysterectomy and hip replacement surgical site infections; and a 35 percent decrease in a targeted postoperative sepsis project.

The Triple Aim approach recognizes that health happens in the places patients live, learn, work and play — in the community, not necessarily the hospital. To support hospitals’ community health efforts, MHA developed and deployed a population health survey to gauge progress and maturity. The survey was a first step in building population health management tools for hospitals at all levels of readiness.

Across Missouri, the opioid crisis affects every community. However, Missouri is the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program. MHA spearheaded a broad, multifaceted and community-centered engagement to address opioid misuse. MHA provided extensive resources and implementation support for the county-based prescription drug monitoring program launched by St. Louis County. The system now includes 55 jurisdictions throughout the state and covers a majority of the state’s population. In parallel, to reduce inappropriate use of opioids, MHA led a provider coalition to implement prescriber guidelines. Since the program launched, the number of hospitals responding to implementation surveys and the percentage of guidelines implemented have increased significantly.

Honorable mention honoree OHA continues to work closely with its member hospitals and other health partners to improve safety and quality of care. OHA’s highly effective initiatives reduced Ohio’s sepsis mortality by 15 percent and reduced readmissions statewide by 28 percent by focusing on three core metrics of C. diff (down 8 percent), surgical site infections (down 31 percent) and CLABSI (down 23 percent). These significant results were made possible by the OHA Institute for Health Innovation, which collaborates with hospitals to develop and spread strategies that accelerate health care quality, improve transition of patient care and advance community health. By focusing support and quality programming on antimicrobial stewardship, coordination and transition of care, and hand-hygiene, participating hospitals have sustained substantial gains in quality improvement and coordination of care.

“Every year, the Dick Davidson Quality Milestone Award Committee recognizes the critical work state associations do to improve quality and safety for patients. As the chair of the committee, I am proud to honor Missouri and Ohio for their commitment to delivering quality care and providing a model to the rest of the field across the country,” said Mary Beth Walsh, M.D., the former CEO and Executive Medical Director of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, and chair of the AHA Davidson Award Committee.

The award is named for AHA President Emeritus Dick Davidson, who strongly promoted the role of hospital associations in leading quality improvement during his tenure as AHA president and as president of the Maryland Hospital Association. Applications are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary award committee that includes hospital association executives, hospital and health system clinical and operational leaders and a representative from a national, non-AHA organization involved in quality and performance improvement. Information on the award and how to apply is available on AHA's website.

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About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.