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NAPH Announces 2013 Gage Award Winners for Quality, Population Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2013

WASHINGTON – Six hospitals and health systems were recognized today at the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems’ (NAPH’s) Annual Conference, in Hollywood, Fla., for their exceptional and essential work to improve quality and population health.

The Gage Awards Program – named after NAPH founder and champion for vulnerable populations, Larry S. Gage – honors and shares the outstanding work of NAPH members. Winners are recognized for successful and creative programs that boost patient care and meet community needs.

“Gage Award winners are leaders, not just among NAPH members, but among all hospitals,” said NAPH President and CEO Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH. “These innovative programs are outstanding examples of the vital role our members play in their communities.”

2013 Award for Improving Population Health
This award recognizes activities that have improved delivery, access, or value for specific populations in the recipients’ community and, as a result, have improved health outcomes.

Winner – Hennepin County Medical Center (Minneapolis) for Coordinated Care Center. By carefully studying utilization patterns, Hennepin found that 7 percent of its patient population represented 30 percent of the cost of care. To improve patients’ overall health, decrease the total cost of care, and avoid preventable readmissions, Hennepin created the Coordinated Care Center to provide multidisciplinary, team-based care and complex care coordination. The center’s efforts reduced the rate of emergency department (ED) visits by 37 percent and inpatient care stays by 25 percent after 1 year.

Honorable Mention – Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, Fla.) for Community Youth Services (CYS). Memorial Healthcare’s CYS offers afterschool activities, crime prevention programs, and other services that target Broward County’s at-risk youth. CYS’ programs have made a substantial impact. For example, 96.4 percent of the 452 youths who participated in the New DAY program had no law violations in the following 18 months, and 89 percent improved their overall school performance.

Honorable Mention – San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) (San Francisco) for General Medicine Clinic Care Management Program (GMC). Analysis of 2011 GMC data showed that 2.7 percent of GMC patients accounted for 35 percent of admissions at SFGH. GMC developed the Care Management Program to decrease utilization and improve health outcomes through focused care coordination and health coaching. Patients who have been enrolled in the program for 6 months or longer decreased the number of days spent in the hospital by 59 percent and the number of ED visits by 55 percent.

2013 Award for Improving Quality
This award recognizes activities that have improved the quality of care delivered, or reduced or eliminated harmful events to individual patients or groups of patients.

Winner – Grady Health System (Atlanta) for Grady Heart Failure Program: Transforming Clinical Care Delivery. Grady conducted a retrospective analysis and found that from November 2009 to October 2010, 14.2 percent of patients were readmitted within 30 days. Of these patients, 70 percent were readmitted with worsening heart failure (HF), a prevalent issue and leading reason for hospitalization, particularly among the elderly. Grady established the HF Clinic, which serves as the centerpiece for improvement efforts for this patient population. Since the clinic’s inception, 78 percent more patients keep their post-discharge appointments, and there has been a 31 percent reduction in the 30-day readmission rate and a 37 percent reduction in ED visits.

Honorable Mention – Natividad Medical Center (Salinas, Calif.) for Know Your Physician. Natividad’s patient satisfaction scores, as reported through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, have improved since the creation of the “Know Your Physician” program. A multidisciplinary team developed the program, which defines physician roles and responsibilities, consolidates call schedules into one master scheduling tool, creates a process for assigning and sharing the attending physician, and develops a new electronic medical record that reports the patient census and attending physician on a daily basis.

Honorable Mention – Parkland Health & Hospital System and Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) (Dallas) for Allocating Resources in Real-Time to Reduce Heart Failure Readmissions – In 2007, Parkland began a quality improvement program to reduce preventable HF readmissions by applying evidence-based approaches to high-risk patients classified by an electronic monitoring system, PIECES, which was developed by PCCI staff. The program led to a 19 percent reduction in HF readmissions and cut readmissions for HF Medicare patients by 31 percent.

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About the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH)
NAPH represents the nation’s safety net hospitals and health systems, which provide high volumes of care to low-income individuals. These facilities offer high-quality health services for all patients, including the uninsured and underinsured, regardless of ability to pay. In addition to helping ensure access to health care for all Americans, safety net hospitals provide many essential communitywide services, such as primary care, trauma care, and neonatal intensive care. Safety net hospitals also train many of America’s doctors, nurses, and other health care providers. Since its inception in 1980, NAPH has cultivated a strong presence on Capitol Hill, with the executive branch, and in many state capitols. NAPH advocates on behalf of its members on such issues as Medicaid, Medicare, and access to health care services for vulnerable populations. For more information, visit our website at http://www.naph.org/.

Media Contact:
Carl Graziano
202.585.0102

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