With the growth of new diagnostic technologies and today's limited health care funds, CEP America understands the delicate balance between our role in delivering high quality care and as stewards of health care resources. CT scan utilization is one example of an important diagnostic tool that provides rapid and accurate diagnosis in our emergency departments, but also increases patient exposure to radiation and the cost of care.
The emergency department at Pioneers Memorial Hospital analyzed their utilization of CT scans with the goal of maximizing patient safety. To accomplish this, the team shared their data at department meetings, reviewing, and discussing it in detail. They educated themselves through case presentations, journal article reviews, and collegial discussions. The team explored alternatives such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging that do not pose significant radiation risks. They also increasingly began to share decision making with patients and offer alternatives such as serial examination.
As a result of their efforts, they have been able to reduce CT utilization in their department from 25% to 17%. The team is proud to say they have reduced patients' exposure to radiation while maintaining high quality care. This has resulted in a cost savings to the hospital of over $300,000 over the course of a year and may have helped prevent two to six cancer cases.
"As a hospital CEO, I truly appreciate the collaborative skills of CEP America. Our hospital had concerns about radiation risk and utilization rates and the CEP America team developed a great approach that balanced strong clinical skills with appropriate use of new diagnostic technologies to significantly reduce the number of scans at our hospital. As a result, we've improved quality of care, reduced unnecessary exposure to radiation levels and saved our health system hundreds of thousands of dollars." - Richard Mendoza
CEP America has a robust mechanism for identifying the latest advances in medical care along with the experience in implementation to provide meaningful improvements in patient care that save lives.
Sepsis remains a major source of morbidity and mortality among patients today despite advances in medical therapy. Each year in the United States, more than 750,000 patients will develop severe sepsis or septic shock, and approximately 215,000 will die.
With the goal of enhancing the treatment of septic patients in our emergency departments, CEP America launched a comprehensive sepsis program that included order bundles, white papers, and web content. The CEP America partners at Sequoia Hospital capitalized on CEP America's knowledge and resources to implement a hospital-wide sepsis management protocol.
Recognizing the opportunity to enhance the treatment of sepsis patients, Sequoia Hospital embarked on a multi-disciplinary clinical initiative to improve the clinical management of sepsis and septic shock in the emergency department. Under the leadership of the Sequoia ED medical director, John Meharg, MD, the emergency department worked with nurses, medical staff, and hospital leadership to put a system in place that incorporated the best practices for sepsis care.
After 12 months, the in-hospital mortality rate had dropped in half, from 18% to 9%. Not only did they save lives, they also saved the hospital precious resources by reducing the length of ICU stays. For achieving such a remarkable success in saving lives, suffering and hospital resources, the hospital CEO presented the group with a CHW award for continued clinical excellence and high patient satisfaction.
Good Samaritan Hospital leadership recognized the critical importance of improving care for stroke victims. A multidisciplinary task force was established to lead the implementation of a Stroke Team and subsequent Code Brain Attack for immediate care of stroke victims. This involved a major process improvement initiative, organizing key players, implementation of new protocols, ensuring responsibilities and accountabilities, and obtaining buy-in throughout the hospital.
CEP America Physicians Leaders were integral in the accreditation of Good Samaritan Hospital. The ED regularly interfaces with all facets of the hospital, which puts our emergency physicians in an effective position to be physician champions for hospital-wide initiatives.
In 2003, Good Samaritan leadership identified an opportunity to become an accredited stroke center. At that time, however, only academic institutions had received the designation and Good Samaritan is a non-academic community hospital. Through the efforts of the Stroke Team, Good Samaritan became one of the first five Joint Commission Accredited Stroke Centers in the nation.
Today, the emergency department continues to be an integral part of the hospital's ongoing accreditation as a center for Stroke, Chest Pain, and a STEMI receiving center.
"CEP America's efforts have resulted in top ten percent results in CMS Core Measures and the continued success of our internationally known Primary Stroke Center." - William Piche,