IHA Launches Coalition for Care: Indiana Hospital Association’s Hospital Engagement Network
On April 10, IHA will formally launch its hospital engagement network, Coalition for Care. Coalition for Care is Indiana’s largest hospital engagement network with participation through the American Hospital Association’s Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET). IHA is working with 120 member hospitals to improve patient care in Indiana under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s national Partnership for Patients initiative. The goal is to reduce patient harm by 40 percent and readmissions by 20 percent by the end of 2013.

Project Importance:  One in three patients admitted to the hospital suffers a medical error or adverse event.  On any given day, about one in 20 patients is adversely affected by an infection related to hospital care.  On average one in seven Medicare beneficiaries is harmed in the course of care, costing the government an estimated $4.4 billion annually. Nearly one in five Medicare beneficiaries, or approximately 2.6 million seniors, discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days at an annual cost of over $26 billion.

Scope: Thirty-two state and regional hospital associations and over 1,600 hospitals, including acute care, teaching, children’s, psychiatric, critical access and long term care facilities, are part of our HEN. IHA has 120 participating hospitals.

Betsy Lee, director of the Indiana Patient Safety Center, talks about the newly created Partnership for Patients - a collaboration with hospitals and others to reduce hospital acquired conditions and preventable hospital readmissions in an interview with WRTV-6 on April 13, 2011.