EJGH only Louisiana hospital to receive distinction

East Jefferson General Hospital is among the 2011 Top Performing Hospitals in the Premier healthcare alliance's national QUEST® collaborative.

Based on three years (January 2008-December 2010) of the QUEST: High Performing Hospitals collaborative, East Jefferson General Hospital was recognized for:

• Improvement in delivering recommended evidence-based care to every patient, every time by 16 percent. For example, providing flu vaccinations to all pneumonia patients or prescribing a high blood pressure or chest pain medication to all heart attack patients prior to discharge.
• Reducing mortality rates by 40 percent.
• Safely reducing the cost of care per adjusted discharge by 30 percent.

"Being named to this award shows an organizational commitment to providing high quality care," says Ruby Brewer, RN, EJGH Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer. "It is extremely gratifying to put yourself out there as an organization with aggressive targets and goals and meet them through a high level of performance. It also allows us to network with other nationally recognized hospitals across the country so that we can all learn from each to improve the overall healthcare system."

Being a QUEST member means redesigning the way we operate so that patients receive reliable, safe and efficient healthcare every time they come in. By collaborating to share our patient outcomes data and provider best practices with other members, we are leading the industry in driving the best results, which creates a competitive advantage.

QUEST supports hospitals in delivering the best care possible, as well as sharing collaborative solutions to improve healthcare nationwide and influence public policies. Together, the current 278 QUEST members share ideas, strategies and proven practices to reduce variation, an approach that has been shown to improve care quality, safety and cost.

In just 30 months, QUEST members saved 25,235 lives and reduced healthcare spending by $2.85 billion through the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based care to 63,094 patients. In addition:

• Members' observed mortality is 5 percent lower than non-participants when compared to what is expected.
• Member costs for inpatient care have increased only 4 percent, compared to a national cost increase of 21 percent.
• Members began increasing adherence to evidence-based care delivery in patient experience, harm and readmissions last year to support new improvement goals such as those proposed by the Partnership for Patients program.
• Premier will announce complete year three collaborative results in January.

Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO said, "These hospitals challenged themselves to overcome process failures and excessive costs by measuring themselves against each other to drive success. The achievements made by QUEST members are remarkable as they continue to reveal what is possible in healthcare. East Jefferson General Hospital is a true standard setter for top quality care in America, as they support the health of people in their community."

An advisory panel of experts from the country's top health organizations, such as the National Quality Forum, The Joint Commission and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, guide collaborative members to achieve success.

About East Jefferson General Hospital

Opening on Valentine's Day, 1971, East Jefferson General Hospital started as a 250-bed facility with almost 250 physicians serving the newly burgeoning suburbs of Jefferson Parish. From the beginning, the hospital was to be a not-for-profit community hospital with a board of directors comprised of representatives from the community's financial, educational, civic, and business community. Today, EJGH stands as a state-of-the-art hospital with more than 420 beds. Still a community hospital with a board comprised of representatives throughout the community, our patients are served by a staff of more than 3,000 team members and more than 650 physicians.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 80,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. http://www.premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.