With a strong focus on overall patient care, standard safety procedures and safer surgery methods, Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi passed its national patient safety report card with flying colors.
Of the 33 hospitals in the state, Baptist Memorial Hospital is one of five hospitals who received an “A” for the fall 2015 reporting period in The Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Score.
These grades were based on the following categories: hospital use of standard safety procedures, correct staffing to prevent safety problems, infections and safety problems, how well staff follows safety steps to make surgery safer and safety problems with surgery.
The Leapfrog Group’s composite score is a compilation of voluntary surveys filled out by hospitals and data pulled from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Because these surveys are voluntary, many hospitals decline.
According to Betty Tolbert, director of quality at Baptist, participates in some of The Leapfrog Group’s surveys.
“Leapfrog has their own methodology of scoring,” Tolbert said. “Baptist does voluntarily report, but some of the data is still pulled from the CMS Hospital Compare website.”
According to Leapfrog, the primary purpose of this composite score is to develop a benchmark to help improve overall patient safety in hospitals across the nation. The score is sectioned into two separate parts— the first addresses the process or structural measures taking place in hospitals, while the second half addresses the outcome of those measures.
“Baptist strives to achieve the benchmark of the top 10 percent performance as established by the Joint Commission and CMS,” Tolbert said. “We have received recognition as a Top Performer for Joint Commission for 2012 and 2013 for all four performance measures.”
In comparison with the hospitals throughout the state, Baptist North Mississippi received zero dangerous objects left in patient’s body, zero patient falls, and zero air or gas bubbles in the blood, which was the best in the state. Baptist also performed the highest in the following areas: adequate number of qualified nurses, responsible use of antibiotics before surgery, removal of catheter soon after surgery and proper steps taken to prevent blood clots.
Of the 28 measurable categories, Baptist North Mississippi did not reach the state average in four areas: infection in the blood during ICU stay, serious breathing problems, surgical wounds split open and specially trained doctors’ care for ICU patients.
According to Bill Henning, CEO and administrator, Baptist North Mississippi focuses primarily on patient care, rather than a grade on a report card.
“While there are multiple rating services for the health care industry, our focus is on the bigger picture, which is providing safe high-quality care for our patients,” Henning said. “By striving to follow best practices and clinically proven protocols, high scores will follow.”
Baptist North Mississippi’s plan to construct a replacement hospital, scheduled for completion in December 2017, leads Henning to believe this addition will contribute to their overall performance.
“When Baptist became affiliated with this hospital in 1989, the system committed to turn the hospital into a regional referral center. With the increased quality of care, services offered and more than 120 physicians on staff, we are well on our way to reaching that goal,” Henning said. “The new facility is the next step to keeping up with the needs of our growing community.”
According to Jondi Roberson, director of marketing and provider relations, the primary reason for the replacement hospital is its location and space limitations.
“We are running out of room, and more services today are outpatient than impatient,” Roberson said. “What we need is more room for outpatient services rather than bed space.”
Henning said the replacement hospital would not have a direct result on their future rankings. However, he is hopeful their new implementations will lead them in the right direction.
“While there is no relation between the rankings and the building of a new replacement hospital, during the design phase of the new hospital, we paid close attention to different design and engineering techniques that provide the most safe and patient friendly environment,” Henning said.
This is the first time since 2013 Baptist North Mississippi has received an A ranking. They received a B in 2014 and Spring 2015. Henning’s goal is to continue their efforts of constant progression and maintain focus in quality of care.
“We continually strive to provide the best possible care for our patients,” said Henning. “By working with groups like Leapfrog and using the best practices, we strive to maintain a high quality score.”
