Hospital Watch USA
Name of Hospital
Location (State, Zip)
DISCLAIMER
DO YOUR PART TO ACHIEVE THE BEST OUTCOME FOR YOUR HOSPITAL CARE
Achieving the best healthcare outcomes requires a team effort. Take responsibility for your part. Should you need hospital care there are important actions you may take before, during and after the hospitalization to have the best health outcome. Click on the links below for steps you can take, our suggestions and tools may save your life.
Do My PART is focused on helping patients and their families and caregivers to take steps to improve the hospital discharge process and actions to improve the transition from hospital to home.
Getting to Zero by 2024 Our citizen oriented treatment plan to eliminate preventable medical errors and other healthcare acquired conditions.
◊ Do your part
◊ Engage with your doctor
◊ Engage with fellow citizens
◊ Engage with the hospital
◊ Engage with stakeholders
◊ Engage with politicians
◊ Engage with the media
Tool Box for Citizen Engagement
Getting to ZERO by November 2024
Treatment Plan
“Quality is a shared interest and a shared mission and by working together, we can deliver inspiring healthcare solutions.”
David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, Executive Director, American College of Surgeons
When a hospital stay is necessary, the last thing you want is for your hospital to cause a preventable hospital associated medical condition. Yet, if you have to be hospitalized there is a one in twenty chance that you will acquire a medical error. It doesn't have to be this way.
When it comes to healthcare associated conditions and medical errors, good enough is not enough.
The presenting problem:
Healthcare associated conditions and medical errors are among the leading causes of preventable death in the United States.
90,000 people receiving hospital care die every year from healthcare associated preventable medical conditions and errors.
$30,000,000,000 is spent yearly on treating healthcare associated preventable medical conditions and errors.
Diagnosis:
Healthcare associated conditions and errors are a formidable challenge for all of us. Eliminating medical errors and improving patient safety is a worthwhile goal. Many healthcare organizations have embraced patient safety as a goal however there is lots of work to be done. We must all do our part to make healthcare safer. With all of our help, all healthcare facilities can be top performers, save lives and help our nation’s fiscal future.
Assessment:
The good news is that there are organizations that have been able to reduce medical errors. If the entire nation had the same quality as the outstanding healthcare organizations that follow best practices, thousand of lives and billions of dollars will be saved yearly. The knowledge to prevent most medical error exists and utilized by many healthcare organizations however such knowledge is of little use if it is not put into practice.
We believe that a missing piece to eliminate medical errors is the power of all of us as:
patients who are aware, informed and assertive about our and loved ones care
consumers who utilize information about hospital safety to make healthcare decisions
citizens who are concerned about the cost of care and expect excellent care for ourselves and our neighbors
Treatment plan:
We set a goal and work together to achieve it.
Our goal:
By November 2024, healthcare encounters are 100% free from preventable medical errors.
What Can You Do to Prevent Medical Errors?
Start by making your treatment team and take charge of your care
We believe that by working together, implementing a citizen oriented treatment plan we will eliminate preventable medical errors and other healthcare acquired conditions. Here are actions you can take to help all of us achieve the goal ZERO medical errors and healthcare associated conditions by November 2021.
Do your part Engage with your doctor Engage with fellow citizens Engage with the hospital Engage with stakeholders Engage with politicians Engage with the media
Do your part to achieve the best outcome for your hospital care
Achieving the best healthcare outcomes requires a team effort. Take responsibility for your part. Should you need hospital care there are important actions you may take before during and after the hospitalization to have the best health outcome. Click on the links below for steps you can take, our suggestions and tools may save your life.
Take care of yourself and your loved ones: The best way to avoid medical associated errors is to prevent the need for hospital care find out what you can do to stay healthy.
Hospital survival guide: The guide provides you a step by step action plan to achieve the best results before, during and after the hospitalization.
The safe healthcare services contract: The contract “formalizes” what you and the hospital will do to achieve the best outcome for your medical problem.
Engage with your doctors
To get the right healthcare, you need to develop a relationship with your doctor. Becoming an active participant in your care, is a crucial part of successful outcomes. Asking the right questions and being prepared will lead to better outcomes and contribute to a safer healthcare system for all of us.
Steps to help you get more out of your doctor's visit
Share in every medical decision
Tips for talking to your doctor
My healthcare team: list of providers
Contract for safe and effective healthcare services The contract “formalizes” what you and the hospital will do to achieve the best outcome for your medical problem.
Contract for safe and effective surgical care The contract “formalizes” what you and the hospital will do to achieve the best outcome for your surgery.
Surgeon Checklist: Choosing the best surgeon can reduce your chances of death, complications, or other bad outcomes. Which surgeons' patients get the best outcomes? This website lists surgeons Checkbook has identified as having better–than–average outcomes based on analysis of more than four million surgeries done for hospital inpatients by more than 50,000 surgeons.
ProPublica, Updated July 15, 2015
Guided by experts, ProPublica calculated death and complication rates for surgeons performing one of eight elective procedures in Medicare, carefully adjusting for differences in patient health, age and hospital quality. Use this database to know more about a surgeon before your operation.
Engage with your fellow citizens
Your need for hospitalization is unpredictable, you cannot afford to wait until you are hospitalized. Making the needed changes is a process that requires a team effort. You can reach out to members of your community as well as others interested in improving healthcare. This is a great opportunity to learn about what others are doing and to share your experience.
Participate in the discussion: How can we make healthcare safer? Join the conversation with others to share and learn about achieving the best outcomes. You can participate in our discussion or start your own. Share your knowledge with your family, friends, colleagues, neighbors.
Report an adverse medical event: The Empowered Patient Coalition survey is designed to answer questions that are important to patients. What procedures are associated with harm? Why? What are the common factors patients see as leading to harm, and how do healthcare providers respond? This is a way for patients to report their experience as they have lived it, and to know that their report will be counted.
Fill out the ProPublica's patient harm questionnaire. We use this for a broad picture of the issues, and may contact you for more information. (And based on feedback from the summit, we’ve tweaked the introduction to reflect the fact that you do not, in fact, need all of your documents to fill out the form.)
Share your experience with the Patient Harm Facebook Group: In the era of social media, if you or a loved one has suffered harm, there are many ways you can share the story. Our goal is to make healthcare safer for everyone.
Share your story with Consumers Union. Over several years, they've already collected thousands of stories.
Engage with the hospital
Hospitals are complex organizations, with multiple challenges. We believe that patient safety must be a top priority. Many hospital have embraced, making the care they provide a top priority and have achieved excellent outcomes, however there is more to be tone. All hospitals must be top performers. Most hospitals respond to pressure from their community. The hospital and their board are responsible for the hospital’s performance. Reach out to the hospital’s leadership to voice your concerns and work with the hospital will achieve the goal of no preventable medical errors by October 2021.
Give your hospital a checkup: This brief, 10-15 minute checkup, provides you information available publically about the performance of “your” hospital.
Contract for safe healthcare services: The contract “formalizes” what you and the hospital will do to achieve the best outcome for your medical problem.
The hospital safety questionnaire: Survey the hospital about the patient safety record and the activities they are undertaking to keep patients safe.
Contract for safe and effective surgical care: The contract “formalizes” what you and the hospital will do to achieve the best outcome for your medical problem and surgery.
Engage with hospital leaders: Reach out to the healthcare leaders of the hospital. Discuss ways to improve the performance of the hospital. Write a letter, meet with the members of the board and attend board meetings to express your concern or appreciation
Engage with the media
Healthcare is of great interest to most Americans. Whether related to the quality of care, the cost of care, the amazing advances in medical practice, the politics of healthcare, the media plays an important part is shaping the public’s views on healthcare. Unfortunately, when it comes to healthcare reporting, the media’s performance is not always as good as can be. Any significant change must include engagement with the media. Make the media report important health news in your community. Let your voice be heard! Talk back to the media
FAIR- contact information , FAIR-communicating with journalists , Congress.org- respond to editorials, blogs, articles
Click here to learn how you can engage the media
Click here to download sample letters you can use
Engage with regulators
When a hospital is not responsive to the efforts for patient safety, or you have other concerns regarding the quality of care, there are other national and state based organizations responsible for making sure our hospitals are safe. Find out how these organizations can help improve the hospital’s performance.
Click here to learn about the organizations for patient safety
Contact regulatory agencies: Medicare: State Insurance Departments: The Joint Commission: Medicare Fraud and Abuse.
Engage with politicians
Sometimes change can only come about through the political process and public opinion. For example, ACA has many provisions to improve patient safety and public reporting of outcomes. Passing laws is just one part, the implementation and regulation of the law is also important. There are many forces that attempt to influence the politicians. We must make the patients needs central. This is where we all come in. We can engage with the politicians to be part of the solution. Work with the politicians to promote the best healthcare outcomes in your community.
Click here to learn how you can engage the politicians
Click here to learn more about your representatives healthcare positions