SHM's Center for Quality Improvement Receives Recognition from CMS

Shared Hospital Patient Safety Network Reduces Patient Harm, Saves Lives and Reduces Costs

Philadelphia, PA (February 10, 2017) – The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM)’s Center for Quality Improvement (QI) has been distinguished by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for maintaining an ongoing collaborative partnership with the CMS to enhance patient safety.

The letter of recognition from Dr.Paul McGann, Jean Moody-Williams, RN, MPP and Dennis Wagner, MPA of the CMS to Jenna Goldstein, MA, Director of SHM’s Center for QI, and Kevin Vuernick, MPA, Senior Project Manager, notes: “Over the last several years, our team has been privileged to partner with you and the Society of Hospital Medicine on the work of quality improvement and patient safety. Without relationships like these, the results in the reduction of patient harm we have seen at a national scale, saving ~87,000 lives and nearly $20 billion in cost savings, would never have been possible.”

“This recognition by CMS demonstrates the tangible impact that SHM has not only on its members, but on their patients and their institutions,” says Beth Hawley, MBA, SFHM, FACHE, Chief Operating Officer of SHM. “We look forward to even more partnerships that can ultimately lead to improved patient care.”

In August of 2016, the CMS’ Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIINs) contacted SHM to participate in their weekly Partnership for Patients (PfP) Pacing Event webinar to present strategies for reducing opioid use and preventing adverse events, including SHM’s Mentored Implementation (MI) pilot program on Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids (RADEO).

SHM’s contribution to this webinar was twofold -- Dr. Thomas Frederickson, the lead author of the RADEO guide and one of the two program mentors, spoke about the development of the MI RADEO program and its importance in the acute care setting. Dr. Matthew Jared, a hospitalist at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, OK, one of the five pilot RADEO sites, discussed his experience implementing specific RADEO interventions and mentoring provided by Dr. Frederickson.

As a result of this successful partnership, SHM was contacted in January of 2017 to provide its perspective on best practices in managing inpatients receiving opioids and ADE data collection. At this event, Mr. Vuernick discussed the lessons learned between RADEO’s pilot program and the second iteration of RADEO, which launched in November of 2016.

“The Center for QI is extremely proud to be at the forefront of addressing opioid use and monitoring of patients receiving opioids and is honored to be recognized for the work that it has done,” says Kevin Vuernick, Senior Project Manager. “We are looking forward to new opportunities to partner with the CMS on their PfP events, as well as continuing work to ensure patient safety in the hospital.”