Community Health Network

Community Health Network joins IHI's 5 Million Lives Campaign to reduce medical harm throughout the nation

For release: 1/10/2007

Indianapolis, IN---Community Health Network announced that it has joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 5 Million Lives Campaign, a national campaign to dramatically reduce incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals. The 5 Million Lives Campaign asks hospitals to improve the care they provide in order to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm over a 24-month period, ending December 9, 2008. It represents a continuation of the largest improvement effort undertaken in recent history by the health care industry.

The Campaign was formally unveiled on December 12, 2006 and has been endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

The 5 Million Lives Campaign builds upon the success of the 100,000 Lives Campaign, in which 3,100 participating hospitals reduced inpatient deaths by an estimated 122,000 in 18 months through overall improvement in care, including improvement associated with six interventions recommended by the initiative. The new Campaign will promote the adoption of up to 12 improvements in care that can save lives and reduce patient injuries, and it aims to enroll even more hospitals than participated in the previous Campaign.

“No one in health care can feel comfortable with the magnitude of infections, adverse drug events, and other complications that hospital patients endure.  Dozens of organizations and programs are now working to reduce that toll. They deserve encouragement. This Campaign joins those efforts, and seeks leverage and scale that our nation has never had before to make care safe - everywhere.” said Dr. Berwick. “We can, and we will, equip all willing health care providers with the tools they need to make the motto, ‘First, do no harm,’ a reality.”

IHI estimates that 15 million incidents of medical harm occur in U.S. hospitals each year. This estimate of overall national harm is based on IHI’s extensive experience in studying injury rates in hospitals, which reveals that between 40 to 50 incidents of harm occur for every 100 hospital admissions. With 37 million admissions in the United States each year (according to the AHA’s National Hospital Survey for 2005) this equates to approximately 15 million harm events annually - or 40,000 incidents of harm in U.S. hospitals every day.

IHI defines “medical harm” as unintended physical injury resulting from or contributed to by medical care (including the absence of indicated medical treatment) that requires additional monitoring, treatment or hospitalization, or results in death. 

Community Health Network took part in the 100,000 Lives Campaign, focusing on all six interventions.  The organization has made notable progress and serves as mentor for all six interventions.

Community Health Network plans to implement and continue working on the following interventions as part of its participation in the 5 Million Lives Campaign:

• Prevent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection...by reliably implementing scientifically proven infection control practices throughout the hospital.

• Reduce harm from high-alert medications...starting with a focus on anticoagulants, sedatives, narcotics, and insulin.

• Reduce surgical complications...by reliably implementing the changes in care recommended by the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP).
  
  Prevent pressure ulcers...by reliably using science-based guidelines for prevention of this serious and common complication.

• Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for congestive heart failure…to reduce readmissions.

• Get Boards on board…by defining and spreading new and leveraged processes for hospital Boards of Directors, so they can become far more effective in accelerating the improvement of care.

• Deploy Rapid Response Teams…at the first sign of patient decline – and before catastrophic cardiac or respiratory event.

• Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for acute myocardial infarction…to prevent deaths from heart attack.

•  Prevent adverse drug events…by reconciling patient medications at every transition point in care.

• Prevent central line infections…by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps.

• Prevent surgical site infections…by following a series of steps, including reliable, timely administration of correct perioperative antibiotics.

• Prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia…by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps.   

The 5 Million Lives Campaign is made possible through the generous leadership and support of America’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans.  IHI also acknowledges the leadership and support of the Cardinal Health Foundation, and the support of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Aetna Foundation, Baxter International, Inc., and Abbott Point-of-Care. This initiative builds on work begun in the 100,000 Lives Campaign, supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Cardinal Health Foundation, the Rx Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Colorado Trust, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Baxter International, Inc., The Leeds Family, and the David Calkins Memorial Fund.

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Ranked among the top 40 integrated health care networks in the nation, Community Health Network has more than 70 sites of care throughout central Indiana. This includes Community Hospitals East, North and South in Indianapolis and Community Hospital Anderson; The Indiana Heart Hospital, a dedicated heart hospital; Indiana Surgery Centers; Community Physicians of Indiana; Community Home Health Services; MedCheck urgent care centers; occupational health services; nursing homes; and other health care facilities. Community Health Network is committed to getting you well and back to your life. For more information about Community Health Network or to find a physician, call 800-777-7775 or visit eCommunity.com.

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The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (www.ihi.org) is a not-for-profit organization leading the improvement of health care throughout the world. Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, MA, IHI is a catalyst for change, cultivating innovative concepts for improving patient care and implementing programs for putting those ideas into action. Thousands of health care providers, including many of the finest hospitals in the world, participate in IHI’s groundbreaking work.

Lynda de Widt
Media Relations
Community Health Network
317-621-3636
E-mail