More Quality News from AHA
  

At the AHA Annual Meeting in Washington, April 26-29, the American Hospital Association, together with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), endorsed a joint effort to take a leadership role on one of the most important issues facing the field: making information public about the quality of hospital care. This effort is called The Quality Initiative: A Public Resource on Hospital Performance.

Data will be collected on the following indicators:

• For adult patients with heart attack – whether aspirin was prescribed on admission and discharge, whether beta-blockers were prescribed on admission and discharge, and whether ACE inhibitors were prescribed for those with left ventricular systolic dysfunction

• For adult patients with congestive heart failure – whether left ventricular function was assessed and whether ACE inhibitors were prescribed for those with left ventricular systolic dysfunction

• For patients with pneumonia – the timing of the initial antibiotic, whether an assessment was done of the patient’s oxygenation and whether the patient received a pneumococcal vaccination

On Thursday, May 1, the partners sent out an advisory to all hospitals in America asking that hospitals sign a pledge to participate in the initiative. In order to be included in the first public release of information, the pledges must be signed and returned by the end of May.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT:  Click here to download the forms needed to pledge your support for this initiative

Click here for the FULL ADVISORY FROM AHA