Our commitment to quality is our promise to you. Quality can mean different things to different people. At Yale New Haven Health, quality is the ultimate result of what we strive for every day – the best care, delivered by the best people in the safest, most patient-focused and cost-effective way possible.
You have more choices today than ever before when it comes to your health care. Your decisions should consider an organization’s performance and quality measures. To help, we created a performance management department that exists solely to promote healthcare quality, patient safety and customer satisfaction. By partnering with us as your healthcare providers, you can help improve care, reduce errors, and speed your recovery.
A concerted effort
Yale New Haven Health System Quality Council consists of quality management leaders from across the System. Focused on developing benchmarks and best-practices for greater standardization of care, the council tracks clinical and service quality measures such as:
- Preventing blood clots after surgery
- Getting best medicines for heart failure
- Rapid treatment for heart attacks (myocardial infarction)
- Best treatment for diabetes
- Preventing bacterial pneumonia
- Time to clot-busting therapy for stroke patients
- Patient safety: time since last serious safety event
Performance measurement reporting
We measure patient satisfaction by surveying every patient after their care. We value this feedback because knowing how you feel about your care helps us identify what we’re doing well and where we could do better. Our hospitals also participate in quality and safety programs initiated by these nationally recognized organizations to monitor and improve our quality measures:
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This federal agency, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, measures quality in hospitals across the country, asking patients to complete a survey called HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems). Its reporting website, Hospital Compare, shows how hospitals nationwide compare in treating patients with three of the most common medical conditions requiring hospitalization – heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia – as well as surgical infection prevention.
- The Joint Commission
A not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the oldest and largest healthcare accrediting body. Joint Commission standards set performance expectations for activities that affect the safety and quality of patient care – leading to good outcomes for patients.
Our High Reliability Journey
We’re taking proactive steps to eliminate preventable errors that could cause harm. A multi-year initiative to become a high reliability organization started in 2013, touching every employee at every level across Yale New Haven Health through education and training on safety behaviors.
