Prime Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading health systems, has
been recognized with the prestigious
2021 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award in the “National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality”
category. Prime Healthcare was recognized for its cohesive program and
groundbreaking initiatives in social determinants of health that are consistent
with the aims of the National Quality Strategy: better care, healthy people
and communities, and smarter spending.
The awards, presented annually by The Joint Commission and the National
Quality Forum, recognize major individual, local and national achievements
in health care that improve patient safety and health care quality. Prime
Healthcare was the only health system to receive a National Level Innovation
in Patient Safety and Quality Award for Improving and Promoting Social
Determinants of Health at a System Level.
“The John M. Eisenberg Awards were created to honor the enduring
legacy of Dr. Eisenberg. Twenty years later, they continue to showcase
how innovation and dedication to process improvement can lead to sustainable
solutions to some of healthcare’s greatest challenges. The recipients
of this year’s Eisenberg Awards uphold Dr. Eisenberg’s life’s
work and those who have come before them in furthering the mission of
improving patient safety and quality of care,” said David W. Baker,
MD, MPH, FACP, Executive Vice President, Division of Healthcare Quality
Evaluation, The Joint Commission.
The National Level Innovation award recognizes a project or initiative
that extends beyond local areas and is implemented across the country
to achieve national impact. Prime Healthcare’s initiative, “Improving
and Promoting Social Determinants of Health at a System Level,”
aims to help providers more effectively deliver patient care and reduce
healthcare disparities. A multidisciplinary team of providers are actively
involved in assessing and understanding patient needs. Shared decision
making is encouraged to understand patients’ strengths and ongoing
social challenges. This approach creates an opportunity to provide optimal
care based on patients’ beliefs and their social and economic barriers.
In addition, after implementing a new screening tool that identifies a
patient’s SDoH needs and risk factors, Prime Healthcare observed
improvements in hospital-wide readmission rates.
“We are so honored to see Prime Healthcare recognized for its efforts
to address social determinants of health and improve the quality of life
in communities across the United States,” said Sunny Bhatia, MD,
Prime Healthcare’s Corporate Chief Medical Officer. “Prime
Healthcare is committed to providing compassionate quality care, building
value, preserving access, improving health outcomes, and decreasing costs.
Addressing social determinants of health is important to achieving better
health outcomes and delivering value-based care.”
Winning criteria for the Innovation Award included demonstrated success
in making significant, long-lasting contributions to improving patient
safety and health care quality, showcasing how innovation and dedication
to process improvement can lead to sustainable solutions, and inspiring
the mission to improve patient safety and quality of care amid a global pandemic.
“Prime Healthcare’s physician-led and patient-centered mission
was created to ensure health equity and excellent clinical outcomes for
all those we serve,” said Kavitha Bhatia, President & Chair
of Prime Healthcare Foundation and Chief Medical Officer of Strategy,
Prime Healthcare. “Thank you to The Joint Commission and National
Quality Forum for this wonderful and meaningful recognition. Our dedication
to connecting patients to social determinants of health solutions includes
offering preventive services, contributing to community health initiatives,
addressing food insecurity, housing stability and more. Especially throughout
the pandemic, we feel humbled by the opportunity to provide exceptional
patient care to communities that otherwise would not have access. Thank
you to all our caregivers for this remarkable achievement.”
Listen to Prime Healthcare’s Vice President of Quality and Value-based
Care, Ahmad Imran, MD, MBA, discuss Prime’s award-winning solutions
to reducing all-cause hospital-wide readmission by addressing patient
needs based on social determinants of health in The Joint Commission’s
Take 5 podcast.
The patient safety awards program, launched in 2002, honors the late John
M. Eisenberg, MD,MBA, former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ). An impassioned advocate for health care quality
improvement, Eisenberg was a member of NQF’s founding board of directors,
chaired the federal government’s Quality Interagency Coordination
Task Force and personally led AHRQ’s grant program to support patient
safety research. For more information on the accomplishments of the 2021
awardees, please read the
award brochure.
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About Prime Healthcare
As an award-winning health system headquartered in Ontario, California,
operating 45 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states,
Prime Healthcare provides more than 2.6 million patient visits annually.
It is one of the nation’s leading health systems with nearly 50,000
employees and physicians. Fourteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are
members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
public charity. To learn more, please visit
www.primehealthcare.com.
Find us on:
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/prime-healthcare
Twitter:
twitter.com/_PrimeHealth
Facebook:
facebook.com/primehealthcare
Instagram:
instagram.com/prime_healthcare/
Media Contact:
Elizabeth Nikels, 909-235-4305,
enikels@primehealthcare.com