“The state of California’s OSHPD agency released a California
Hospital Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rate indicators report, which shows how
Washington Hospital performed in a number of categories in previous years.
The report utilizes old data that is a snapshot in time in 2010 and 2011,
which captures adverse patient outcomes that every hospital unfortunately
experiences from time to time. While the report shows that mortality rates
in the covered categories are worse in some hospitals compared to others,
the data is also not presented alongside the breath of other important
indicators that provide a more complete picture about care at hospitals.
The OSHPD report provides a starting point to assessing care, but as stated
by OSHPD, the data should not be regarded “as definitive measures
of quality”. A more meaningful assessment of quality data would
consist of data over a larger period of time. The bottom line is that
the OSHPD report alone does not accurately reflect the high level of performance
or the excellent care provided at Washington Hospital. A more accurate
reflection of performance at Washington Hospital is available in the more
current, comprehensive and nationally reported core measure indicators.
Core measures indicators, which are evidence based indicators that are
used to measure the quality of patient care according to evidence based
research, are reported to the Joint Commission and Center for Medicare
and Medicaid Services. Washington Hospital’s core measure results
show overall strong performance that puts us above state and national
benchmarks in most categories; with Heart Failure performance measures
for period ending March 2013 as follows:
- Discharge Instructions Given to Patient: WHHS average 100%, state benchmark
94%, and national benchmark of 93%
- Heart Failure Patients Given an Evaluation of Left Ventricular Systolic
(LVS) Function: WHHS average 100%, state benchmark 99% and national benchmark of 99%
- Use of ACEIs Medication for Heart Attack Patients with Less than 40% (ACE-I/ARB
for LVSD): WHHS average of 100%, state benchmark 97% and national benchmark 96%.
In the area of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), our core measure
performance for period ending March 2013 is as follows:
- Aspirin given at discharge: WHHS average of 100%, state benchmark 99%,
national benchmark 99%
- Primary PCI within 90 minutes of arrival at the hospital: WHHS average
of 100%, state benchmark 95%, national benchmark 95%
- Statin Medication Prescribed at Discharge: WHHS average of 100%, state
benchmark 98%, national benchmark 98%
In the area of pneumonia, our core measure performance for period ending
March 2013 is as follows:
- Blood Culture in ED Prior to First Antibiotic: WHHS average of 93%, state
benchmark 97%, national benchmark 97%
- Appropriate Initial Antibiotic Selection: WHHS average of 97%, state benchmark
96%, national benchmark 95%
Current core measure data for Washington Hospital is presented monthly
at our public board meetings and is available on the hospital website
(www.whhs.com). Additionally, core measure data is also publicly available
on the Hospital Compare website (www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare). As
a mission-driven community hospital, we are confident that we are constantly
working to identify opportunities to improve care, safety and patient
outcomes.”