Risk management

Acumentra Health has long experience in evaluating healthcare delivery systems to identify processes that produce significant risks of adverse patient outcomes, and in providing services to reduce risk.  Services include development and monitoring of quality improvement programs that promote

• identification and elimination of systems-based causes of medical errors and omissions (e.g., surgical infections, diabetes complications, delayed diagnosis)
• creation of a “culture of excellence”
• increased compliance with evidence-based medicine standards
• reduction of avoidable hospitalizations
• increased use of standard protocols and processes
• incorporation of root cause analysis to investigations of adverse events
• evaluation and redesign of workflows to eliminate waste and improve reliability
• implementation of team-based approaches to improving safety and quality of healthcare

Staff expertise

Members of the Acumentra Health team have specialized experience in assessing the risk of litigation exposure and assisting providers in revising processes to reduce the risk of litigation.

Patient Safety Alliance

In 2006, Acumentra Health and Northwest Physicians Insurance Company established the Patient Safety Alliance (PSA), a multi-year quality and process change initiative that aimed to reduce patient harm by applying evidence-based best practices for improving healthcare processes and systems. By its second year, the PSA had engaged Oregon hospitals in improving inpatient medical and surgical care through shared learning that enabled them to

• strengthen care delivery processes
• implement real-time process monitoring
• exchange tools and strategies
• work collaboratively to reduce barriers
• involve physician leaders more productively
• increase input from frontline staff

In May 2008, the PSA recognized 14 Oregon hospitals for meeting all appropriate care (defined in 10 inpatient measures of care) for patients with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia. Three hospitals met a set of care measures on use of antibiotics for prevention of post-surgical infections.