Primaris Press Release
| For immediate release: Feb. 6, 2007 |
Contact: Matt Heger Primaris Communications Department (800) 735-6776, Ext. 136 |
Missouri hospitals join forces in 5 Million Lives Campaign
5 Million Lives Campaign on CBS Evening NewsOn Feb. 6, 2007, as part of the series “The American Spirit,” CBS News anchor Katie Couric profiled Dr. Donald Berwick, the president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the 5 Million Lives Campaign.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. —Hospitals across the U.S., including 70 in Missouri, have united in a campaign that hopes to save five million lives by Dec. 9, 2008. The 5 Million Lives Campaign is the largest effort ever made to improve the quality of hospital care in the U.S.
“A few years ago, it was estimated 98,000 people die from medical errors in U.S. hospitals each year. We're working hard to make that figure zero,” said Richard A. Royer, CEO of Primaris, a nonprofit that works to improve medical care throughout the state.
The 5 Million Lives Campaign was launched by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to dramatically reduce incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals. It expands on the successful 100,000 Lives Campaign which saved an estimated 122,000 lives in 18 months.
Primaris has joined with another nonprofit, the Missouri Center for Patient Safety (MOCPS), to organize and spur the success of 5 Million Lives Campaign in Missouri . They will provide support to hospitals, distribute tools and help hospitals network with each other.
“Simply opening lines of communication about improvement efforts between hospitals creates amazing opportunities for change. In many cases, these hospitals are competing with each other in tight markets, but they will still come around a table and share how to save more patients. Few industries can match that commitment,” said Rebecca Miller, executive director of MOCPS.
While continuing to support the work of the 100,000 Lives campaign, the 5 Million Lives Campaign aims to enlist 4,000 hospitals, challenging all to adopt twelve interventions – six of which were included in the 100,000 Lives Campaign and six of which are new. The six new interventions include:
- Preventing harm from high alert medications
- Reducing surgical complications
- Preventing pressure ulcers
- Reducing methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus
- Delivering reliable, evidence based care for congestive heart failure
- Getting hospital boards committed to patient safety
The 5 Million Lives Campaign is one of many medical care safety advances to appear in Missouri recently. In December, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services made hospital infection data available to consumers through a new Web site, www.dhss.mo.gov/HAI/. In March, the Missouri will officially recognize Patient Safety Month for the second time.
Missouri hospitals, home health agencies, nursing homes and physicians have also taken on a number of programs to improve care. These include projects to reduce surgical infections, two broad-based campaigns to improve nursing home and home health care, and efforts to better utilize technology to cut wastes, costs and time while improving care.
Missouri 's 5 Million Lives Campaign efforts will be officially launched in Missouri on March 29 during the MOCPS' Patient Safety Conference in Columbia .
About the Missouri Center for Patient Safety
As a private, not-for-profit corporation, MOCPS is dedicated to fostering change throughout Missouri 's health care systems. The mission of the Jefferson City-based MOCPS is to improve health care quality and patient safety in collaboration with health care providers, physicians, purchasers, consumers and government.
About Primaris
Primaris is a nonprofit health care consulting firm and contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ( CMS ) to serve as the Quality Improvement Organization for Missouri . Primaris' mission is to improve health care delivery and outcomes by promoting excellence, advancing knowledge and developing innovative solutions for physicians, other providers, businesses, government, patients and consumers.
Online
Institute for Healthcare Improvement: www.ihi.org
Missouri Center for Patient Safety: www.mocps.org
Primaris: www.primaris.org
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EDITORS NOTE: IHI has posted a complete list of participating hospitals and organizations. MOCPS and Primaris encourage you to call your local hospital to learn how they are participating.
MO-07-04-HOSP FEBRUARY 2007
This material was prepared by Primaris, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Missouri , under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ( CMS ), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy.