Improving Quality in Hospitals

Aligning Forces for Quality: Across AF4Q communities, more than 200 hospitals are participating in programs to deliver the highest quality of care to patients. Improving Quality in Hospitals These programs focus on four areas: Reducing Readmissions Improving Language Services Each year, within 30 days of discharge... Cíao Hola Bonjour 30 TElá! Olá 24.5% %$412-17 billion 25M Nearly 25 million Americans speak little or no English and would need the help of an interpreter to have meaningful conversations with ...resulting in an estimated $12-17 billion extra in unnecessary of Medicare patients with chronic diseases are readmitted to the hospital... spending for this care. their doctors. Improving ED Throughput Engaging Nurses & Frontline Staff 132% 15% When nurses and frontline staff 14% are overburdened and unhappy, patient care suffers and staff often leave their jobs. The average annual turnover rate for nurses in U.S. hospitals is up to 14% per year. and the number of hospital EDs across the country shrank almost 5% from 1991 to 2006... The number of annual emergency department (ED) visits rose 32% between 1996 and 2006... The rate on medical-surgical units-where close to 40% of unanticipated hospital deaths occur-may be even higher. .leaving an increasing number of patients now concentrated in fewer EDs. Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation