http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/03/commonwealth-care-under-pressure/ CommonHealth Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:13:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/03/commonwealth-care-under-pressure/comment-page-1/#comment-6486 Paul Levy Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:55:46 +0000 http://www.wbur.org/weblogs/commonhealth/?p=402#comment-6486 I don’t want to get overly repetitive on another point, but I think it is important to reiterate that the most important thing hospitals can do to control costs is to improve the safety and quality of care given to patients. By reducing preventable harm to patients, the extra expenses of treating patients for hospital-acquired infections and other such matters will help to reduce costs (while, of course, also helping patients.) At BIDMC and BID~Needham, our governing Boards have committed our hospitals to aggressive targets along this path and to open disclosure of our progress towards these targets. See http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2008/01/aspirations-for-bidmc-and-bidneedham.html. As Jim Conway at IHI has noted, only when hospitals choose to hold themselves publicly accountable for such results are we likely to see substantial and sustained progress in this realm. I think it is reasonable for people to ask why this has not become the norm for hospitals in the state. I don’t want to get overly repetitive on another point, but I think it is important to reiterate that the most important thing hospitals can do to control costs is to improve the safety and quality of care given to patients. By reducing preventable harm to patients, the extra expenses of treating patients for hospital-acquired infections and other such matters will help to reduce costs (while, of course, also helping patients.) At BIDMC and BID~Needham, our governing Boards have committed our hospitals to aggressive targets along this path and to open disclosure of our progress towards these targets. See http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2008/01/aspirations-for-bidmc-and-bidneedham.html. As Jim Conway at IHI has noted, only when hospitals choose to hold themselves publicly accountable for such results are we likely to see substantial and sustained progress in this realm. I think it is reasonable for people to ask why this has not become the norm for hospitals in the state.

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