CONTACT:    Sandra Parker

                        Maine Hospital Association 

                        207-622-4794

Maine Hospital Association Joins National Campaign

Initiative Builds on Existing Quality Improvement Efforts

Augusta, January 31, 2005 – The Maine Hospital Association (MHA) announced today that it has joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 Lives Campaign, a national effort to encourage the implementation of six quality improvement techniques.  

By joining the Campaign, MHA is endorsing and supporting hospital participation by:

·        Spreading information throughout MHA membership and promoting enrollment;

·        Mobilizing participants on the state level;

·        Sponsoring educational sessions on Campaign activities and interventions; and

·        Helping create and lead the state campaign.

“The initiative seemed to be a good fit with the many quality improvement programs that Maine hospitals are already undertaking,” said MHA President Steven Michaud.

“Our member hospitals are always striving to provide the best possible care to their patients—that’s been proven by Maine’s third best in the nation ranking by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” Michaud said.  “Focusing on the Campaign’s recommendations is just one more way we can ensure that the people of Maine receive the finest care possible.”

Hospitals that participate in the Campaign commit to implement some or all of the following six quality improvement changes:

• Deliver Reliable Evidence-Based Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction – by consistently delivering key measures - including early administration of aspirin and beta-blockers – that prevent patient deaths from heart attack.
• Prevent Adverse Drug Events – by implementing medication reconciliation, which requires that a list of all of a patient’s medications be compiled and reconciled to ensure that the patient is given the right medications at the correct dosages, at admission, discharge and when transferred to another care unit.
• Prevent Central Line Infections – by consistently delivering five interdependent, scientifically grounded steps collectively called the “Central Line Bundle.”
• Prevent Surgical Site Infections – by reliably delivering the correct perioperative antibiotics, maintaining appropriate glucose levels and avoiding shaving hair at the surgical site.
• Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia – by implementing five interdependent, scientifically grounded steps collectively called the “Ventilator Bundle” – such as elevating the head of the hospital bed by 30 degrees – thereby dramatically reducing mortality and length of stay in the intensive care unit.
• Deploy Rapid Response Teams – by allowing any staff member, regardless of his or her position, to call upon a specialty team to examine a patient at the first sign of decline.

To learn more about the 100,000 Lives Campaign, go to www.ihi.org/ihi/programs/campaign.

Based in Augusta, MHA represents all 39 Maine hospitals.  For more information about the Association and Maine hospitals, call 207-622-4794 or visit MHA online at www.themha.org.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a not-for-profit organization based in Cambridge, Mass., leading the improvement of health care throughout the world.

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For more information, contact:

Becky Schnur, Director of Communications
rschnur@themha.org