| By Bill Santamour | December 19, 2011 |
| Despite all the noise about reform, you made health care better in 2011. | |
If I had to sum up 2011 in one word, that word would be "peeved." You can probably think of more colorful words but, for this space, that'll do.
From all those folks on the other side of the globe who got so fed up with the bullying and the oppression and generally being treated like crap that they finally chased the despots out of their gilded fortresses to the Tea Partyers and Occupy Wall Streeters here at home who want to throw our own bums out but can't agree on which of those bums ought to be first down the gangplank, 2011 has been a banner year for aggravation, exasperation and just plain bad moods.
I don't know about you, but it hasn't been 365 days of unadulterated bliss for me either. My buying power isn't all that powerful and my life savings ought to be put on life support. Not only that, but my Chicago Cubs ? well, let's not even go there, OK?
Oh, and when it comes to health care, 2011 has been anything but a bowl of sugarplums. All this shouting and shoving over reform is enough to p-o even the most Pollyanna-ish hospital leader. I know there are legitimate philosophical differences over how to fix the health care system, but the principles of democracy ? debate and compromise ? have been kicked to the curb by bombasts more focused on their own interests than on our nation's. And yet ?
And yet, I can't help but look back and be impressed by how many ways those of you in the trenches ? hospital executives, trustees, physicians, nurses, pharmacists and supporting staff ? have managed to push American health care forward in the last 12 months despite all that noise and negativity. I could cite many examples; here are just three that quickly come to mind:
" Hospitals and other providers made giant leaps in the implementation of health information technologies for everything from speeding up diagnoses to averting medication errors to establishing telehealth services that allow patients at one location to be examined by top-notch clinicians hundreds of miles away. As shown in H&HN's 2011 Most Wired Survey, more and more providers now are sharing patient data electronically across the care continuum so, for instance, when a patient shows up in an emergency department, clinical staff can access an up-to-date medical history and recent test results.
" An interim report released in November by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows a 33 percent reduction in central line-associated bloodstream infections in adult intensive care units in 750 hospitals. "On the CUSP: Stop BSI" is one of many initiatives to identify and disseminate best practices to eliminate such health care-associated infections as CLABSI, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, surgical-site infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, MRSA and Clostridium difficile. To learn more, check out the Health & Human Services Action Plan to prevent HAIs.
" The use of palliative care in U.S. hospitals increased by 139.3 percent between 2000 and 2009 ? from 658 to 1,568 hospitals, and the trend continued in 2011. That means thousands more patients are getting help with pain and symptom control, and in transitioning from one care setting to another. And more patients and their families are receiving the frank information they need to make their own decisions about whether to undergo aggressive treatments that might significantly diminish their quality of life.
As I said, these are just three examples. In the midst of so much uncertainty ?uncertainty that isn't likely to go away whatever the Supreme Court decides in June about the reform law ? you and your colleagues are pushing the bar ever higher when it comes to the quality of health care in the United States. Congratulations on a job well done in 2011, and keep up the great work in 2012.
Bill Santamour is managing editor of Hospitals & Health Networks.
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the policy of Health Forum Inc. or the American Hospital Association.
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