Three out of six Delaware hospitals penalized over patient safety concerns
You go to a hospital to take care of yourself and improve your health, not to get even more sick or hurt.
The federal government knows this, and that's why hospitals across the country are being penalized due to patient safety issues.
Delaware and Connecticut tied for the highest percentage of hospital penalizations in the country.
Bayhealth Milford Memorial Hospital, Beebe Medical Center in Lewes and Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford are the three hospitals being penalized for having too many patient injuries and infections.
Now a national program known as the Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program is taking away one percent in much needed Medicare payments from these facilities.
47ABC reached out to all three of the hospitals for a statement and they each shared a similar reaction.
Beebe Medical Center admits they need to work to decrease their C-Diff infections. Beebe claims, however, this programs assessment didn't reflect all their recent improvements.
They say they are now, "Deploying new cleaning equipment, improving patient room cleaning procedures, educating nurses doctors and technicians about isolation precautions for patients with C-Diff…[and] being diligent with regards to antibiotic use."
Bayhealth Medical Center says the recent report's data is 2 to 3 years old, and adds that they have been making valiant efforts to improve their conditions. Those efforts include, "Better managing blood glucose levels after surgery, reducing unneeded use for urinary catheters and limiting blood draws when using specialized IV lines."
Nanticoke Memorial Hospital says they had done their own research and were already making improvements but added, "Sometimes patients arrive with symptoms of infection but due to test timing, the diagnosis of a condition falls outside the Medicare parameters and will then be reflected negatively on the hospital."
All three hospitals believe things will look much different moving forward.
You can find each hospital's full statement below:
BAYHEALTH MILFORD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL:
"Medicare data on hospital acquired infections is useful for both patients and hospitals. However, the data from the most recent Medicare report is two to three years old (from 2015-2016). In most areas, Bayhealth was better than national targets, and has made improvements over the last 24 months in areas that did not meet our high expectations. This has led to further reduction in infections in all areas measured.
Specific measures adopted by Bayhealth have reduced infections. These measures include better managing blood glucose levels after surgery, reducing unneeded use of urinary catheters, and limiting blood draws when using specialized IV lines. In addition, Bayhealth has implemented Epic, one of the most recognized electronic health records in the nation. Epic improves communication through centralized messaging to the whole care team.
All efforts have led to improved patient outcomes that are better than national targets. Bayhealth will continue our process improvements and staff training focused on patient safety and high reliability – part of our ongoing commitment to provide excellent patient care."
-Gary Siegelman, MD, MSc, Senior Vice President/Chief Medical Officer at Bayhealth
BEEBE MEDICAL CENTER:
"Beebe Healthcare strives to provide the best care to our patients, free from injury in the form of hospital acquired infections (HAC). The area Beebe Healthcare most needed to improve (that represents a significant portion of the HAC Reduction Program Penalty) is hospital acquired Clostridium Difficile ("C-Diff") infections. Beebe Healthcare has been working diligently to decrease our C-Diff infections, and over the past three years has decreased our C-Diff infection rates from 2.2 to 0.83 (rate as of November 30, 2017). The national infection rate reported in the 2018 HAC Reduction Program is 0.96. Beebe's current rate is 0.83. Therefore, Beebe's current rate is less than the national rate. The measurement period reported for the HAC Penalty is from January 2015 to December 2016, so unfortunately our most recent improvements have not yet been recognized by the program.
Beebe Healthcare was able to decrease the rates of hospital acquired C-Diff infections by deploying new cleaning equipment (notably Hydrogen Peroxide Misters), improving patient room cleaning procedures, educating nurses, doctors and technicians about isolation precautions for patients with C-Diff, practicing hand hygiene and implementing an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. Being diligent with regards to antibiotic use such as NOT prescribing for a viral infection, choosing the most appropriate type of antibiotic, and monitoring the duration and form of antibiotic, has shown to significantly decrease C-Diff infections," said Marcy B. Jack, Beebe Healthcare's Vice President and Chief Quality & Safety Officer.
NANTICOKE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL:
"It is always important to get data to continuously improve processes around patient care. An education point that we want to share is that sometimes patients arrive with symptoms of infection but due to test timing, the diagnosis of a condition falls outside the Medicare parameters and will then be reflected negatively on the hospital. In short, it is very likely the patient came to the hospital with the infection, but it was not confirmed by test results until after the short timeframe designated by Medicare. It's also important to note for Nanticoke, the penalty was for 2015 data. From its own data, Nanticoke was already aware and making process improvements in 2015, well ahead of receiving the data from Medicare and continues to monitor processes around patient care. Continually improving patient care at Nanticoke is taken very seriously and we have many clinical and quality teams working to do our very best for our patients as evidenced by our 4-Star rating for quality from CMS/Medicare." – Penny Short, RN, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Officer.
