Western Baptist Hospital
Problem-Solving with Pneumonia Care Performance Improvement Teams
Western Baptist Hospital is one of the top-performing hospitals in the country in the pneumonia care process-of-care, or "core" measures. Performance improvement teams, led by physician champions, have helped the hospital achieve its success in pneumonia care. The hospital also builds systematic process improvements into staff routines to facilitate compliance with the core measures and standardize care.
Performance Improvement Strategies
- Physician champions can encourage their • peers to collaborate on quality improvement efforts. Establish a formal relationship with physician champions to make responsibilities and expectations clear, and to compensate physicians for their time.
- Get a jump-start on improvement by imple• menting process changes as soon as the Joint Commission and CMS issue a revised Specification Manual; do not wait until the new standards become effective to respond.
- Elicit the concerns of community physicians • and include them in developing process improvements.
