Trend data for the first five years of the nation's preeminent hospital quality measurement program demonstrates consistent and pronounced care improvement in Massachusetts acute care hospitals. Patients are receiving the treatments known to produce the best results more often and more reliably each year.
Massachusetts hospital performance has exceeded national norms during the period, even as national performance has improved along a similar path. As the demand for more hospital performance measurement increases, existing data offer lessons for policy makers in the design of measurement and public reporting initiatives.
The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) and the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives have organized hospitals throughout the state in a voluntary reporting program to reduce adult pressure ulcer prevalence, patient falls, and falls with injury in hospitals. Under PatientCareLink, acute care and specialty hospitals report quarterly data on these events following the measures identified in the National Quality Forum's "National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Nursing-Sensitive Care: An Initial Performance Measure Set" and further specified by The Joint Commission.
The hospital-specific measure data extends back from June 2010 for more than three years. Data for each hospital for the most recent reporting period may be viewed at
www.patientcarelink.org/hospital-data/performance-measures.aspx. These data have been used as a foundation for collaborative efforts among hospitals to implement improvement programs and share best practices to reduce pressure ulcers and falls in hospitals.