Hospitals, Surgeons, BlueCross Announce New and Broader Partnership to Save Lives and Reduce Healthcare Costs in Tennessee

Three-year grant from BlueCross announced at news conferences in Chattanooga and Memphis today.

Chattanooga, TN (PRWEB) April 29, 2008 -- The Tennessee Center for Patient Safety (TCPS) of the Tennessee Hospital Association (www.tha.com) (THA) and the Tennessee Chapter of the American College of Surgeons (TnACS) have received a $2.5 million grant from the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (www.bcbst.com) Health Foundation to develop the Tennessee NSQIP Surgical Quality Consortium, which is designed to evaluate and improve surgical care delivered by general and vascular surgeons in the state of Tennessee.

The three-year grant from BlueCross was announced at news conferences in Chattanooga and Memphis today. The funding will be used to support the use of the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) in eight hospitals in Tennessee. The hospitals are expected to be selected by summer, with the program to begin shortly thereafter.

ACS began an initiative to use NSQIP in private sector hospitals in 2004. Currently, there are three hospitals in Tennessee that participate in the NSQIP program—Erlanger Health System, Chattanooga; Vanderbilt University Hospital, Nashville; and Saint Francis Hospital, Memphis.

In 2006, the ACS chapter began discussions with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to explore how they could advance the adoption of NSQIP in Tennessee hospitals. The chapter is taking a leading role in the coordinated effort with the Tennessee Center for Patient Safety to work with hospitals and BlueCross to further the adoption of NSQIP to improve surgical outcomes in Tennessee hospitals.

“The Tennessee NSQIP Surgical Quality Consortium is a great opportunity to align hospitals’ quality efforts with surgeons in Tennessee. This partnership will provide a valid data base for quality improvements that surgeons and hospitals can utilize, and improve care,” explained Craig A. Becker, THA president. “We also expect this partnership to carry over into other relationships and future projects with physicians.”

This collaboration between hospitals and surgeons represents an innovative partnership and will significantly enhance the TCPS’s current initiatives on surgical care and reducing infections. It also will involve the collection of additional quality data that has been proven to be effective in driving improvement in surgical outcomes.

"Surgeons across the state are enthusiastic about this consortium which will allow surgeons and hospitals to look at both the surgical outcomes and key processes that drive those outcomes," said Joe Cofer, MD who is the surgeon championing the program at Erlanger. "We believe NSQIP is a great model, and we look forward to participating in the program.”

“By making this investment in the Tennessee NSQIP Surgical Quality Consortium, BlueCross is able to further its commitment to improving the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of health care for people across the state,” said BlueCross President and CEO Vicky Gregg. “NSQIP is a valuable tool in helping to reduce medical errors, improve patient safety and deliver quality health outcomes to all Tennesseans.”

Leadership for the consortium will be provided by surgeons from the TnACS who participate in the NSQIP and Tennessee Center for Patient Safety staff. Surgeon champions at the three current participating hospitals also will work as mentors for the new participating hospitals and physicians.

Hospitals will use aggregate reports to identify improvement opportunities, identify areas that have better than average results, evaluate and identify difference in practice between the hospitals in the state, and ascertain and disseminate best practices in Tennessee.

For more information, visit www.tha.com.

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