Maryland hospitals achieve impressive care quality improvements

Hospitals in Maryland have focused on patient safety with impressive results.

The Maryland Hospital Association’s annual report on quality in Maryland’s hospitals details the effective strategies hospitals are deploying to improve patient safety. Maryland sets predetermined Medicare reimbursements for hospitals and state-wide target goals for reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and preventable conditions.

Among the findings are that hospitals have:

• Achieved a 90 percent compliance rate for hand hygiene in 2014, up from 71 percent when the program began in 2010
• Reduced hospital readmissions by 4 percent compared to the previous year, faster than the national rate
• Maintained zero central line-associated bloodstream infections per month for 90 percent of the participating hospital units
• Maintained zero catheter-associated urinary tract infections among 83 percent of participating hospital units
• Reduced the number of ventilator-associated complications by 55 percent from the previous year (improper use of ventilators — machines that mechanically breathe for those unable to do so — can lead to infections)
• Reduced occurrences of obstetrical hemorrhage by over 20 percent and occurrences of obstetric lacerations by 14 percent

This report is timely as Maryland’s hospitals have just completed a full year of operations under the terms of a new agreement with the federal government that allows Maryland to continue to be the only state that sets hospital payment rates. According to the agreement, hospitals must perform well on multiple tests related to quality, including significant reductions in readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions.