Quality of Care - Adults
How we measure quality of care
At UK HealthCare our focus is to provide the very best care to every patient, every time.
Certain measures help us to compare our performance with that of other similar hospital systems nationwide, enabling us to see how we’re doing and how we might improve. Looking at readmissions, for instance, helps us evaluate whether the patients received the best possible care while in the hospital and whether they got good, clear instructions on how to care for themselves once they went home.
Not all medical care can be standardized or quantified, but in those cases where it can, tracking our performance helps us to evaluate and improve the care we provide overall. Our Core Measures program helps us know whether we are doing the right thing every time.
Core measures are a set of evidence-based, scientifically researched processes or standards of care that are designed to improve outcomes for patients. Hospitals nationwide use these same core measures, which were established by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2000. Our goal is to provide this “best practice” care to all of our patients and to make sure it is documented accurately. By tracking our performance on these measures we can see how well we’re doing and identify areas that might need improvement.
Surgical care (higher is better)
Surgery patients who were given an antibiotic at the right time (within one hour before surgery) to help prevent infection (SCIPINF1A)
Surgery patients whose preventive antibiotics were stopped at the right time (within 24 hours after surgery) (SCIPINF3A)
Patients who got treatment at the right time (within 24 hours before or after their surgery) to help prevent blood clots after certain types of surgery (SCIPVTE2)
Source: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Emergency Department (lower is better) - in minutes
Average (median) time patients spent in the emergency department before leaving from the visit
Average (median) time patients spent in the emergency department, after the doctor decided to admit them as an inpatient before leaving the emergency department for their inpatient room
Source: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Vaccination compliance rate (higher is better)
Patients assessed and given influenza vaccination (IMM2)
Healthcare workers given influenza vaccination
Source: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services