Representatives from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nebraska present Community Hospital staff with a Recognition for Quality award honoring the hospital with its active participation in the 5 Million Lives Campaign. From BC/BS are (left) Charlie Kennedy, PAHM, Health Network Services Consultant and Lee Handke, PharmD, MBA, Vice President, Health Network and Wellness Services. Also pictured is Community Hospital staff Jim Ulrich, President and CEO, Katie Graham, Patient Safety & Performance Improvement Specialist, Karen Kliment, Vice President Ancillary Services and Troy Bruntz, Vice President Finance & CFO.

Community Hospital Receives Blue Cross and Blue Shield Recognition for Quality award

May 8, 2009 (Omaha, Nebraska)—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska is pleased to recognize Community Hospital for its commitment to delivering the best health care possible to people living in Nebraska. Because of this achievement, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska honors Community Hospital with its Recognition for Quality award.

The Recognition for Quality awards stem from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska’s desire to recognize and reward network providers for their participation and achievement in an established range of health care quality improvement initiatives. These standards have been set by the federal government, health insurers, national health care and medical professional organizations. They are used to measure, report, improve and monitor the care given to their patients, our members.

Community Hospital has earned this award by active participation in this health care quality initiative:

• 5 Million Lives Campaign -- Fully Committed 2008

Community Hospital joined the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 5 Million Lives Campaign, a national campaign to dramatically reduce incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals, in January 2008. The 5 Million Lives Campaign asks hospitals to improve the care they provide in order to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm. It represents a continuation of the largest improvement effort undertaken in recent history by the health care industry.

The 5 Million Lives Campaign builds upon the success of the 100,000 Lives Campaign in which 3100 participating facilities (representing 75% of U.S. hospital beds,) avoided unnecessary deaths by implementing six evidence-based interventions, along with other worthy improvement initiatives. The new Campaign promotes the adoption of up to 12 improvements in care (detailed below) that can save lives and reduce patient injuries, and it aims to enroll even more hospitals than participated in the first Campaign.

Under the leadership of Katie Graham, Community Hospital Patient Safety & Performance Improvement Specialist, Community Hospital implemented and continues working on the following interventions as part of their participation in the 5 Million Lives Campaign:

• Prevent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection...by reliably implementing scientifically proven infection control practices throughout the hospital
• Reduce harm from high-alert medications...starting with a focus on anticoagulants, sedatives, narcotics, and insulin
• Reduce surgical complications...by reliably implementing the changes in care recommended by the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP)
• Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for congestive heart failure…to reduce readmissions
• Get Boards on board…by defining and spreading new and leveraged processes for hospital Boards of Directors, so they can become far more effective in accelerating the improvement of care
• Deploy Rapid Response Teams… at the first sign of patient decline – and before catastrophic cardiac or respiratory event.
• Deliver reliable, evidence-based care for acute myocardial infarction…to prevent deaths from heart attack.
• Prevent adverse drug events…by reconciling patient medications at every transition point in care.
• Prevent surgical site infections…by following a series of steps, including reliable, timely administration of correct perioperative antibiotics.

There is no cost for hospitals to join the 5 Million Lives Campaign though there is an obligation to adopt at least one intervention and an expectation of regularly reporting hospital profile and mortality data throughout the Campaign.

The 5 Million Lives Campaign is made possible through the generous leadership and support of America’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans. IHI also acknowledges the leadership and support of the Cardinal Health Foundation and the support of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Aetna Foundation, the Rx Foundation, Baxter International, Inc., and Abbott Point-of-Care. This initiative builds on work begun in the 100,000 Lives Campaign, supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Cardinal Health Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Colorado Trust, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Baxter International, Inc., The Leeds Family, and the David Calkins Memorial Fund.