Hospital performance measures provide hospitals across the country and here in New Jersey with a mechanism to monitor care and procedures which lead to quality outcomes for our patients. Every year since 2004, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) issues a report that provides information about how hospitals in New Jersey are performing with respect to state and national averages. Some of the measures that the NJDHSS currently reports on include:
- Recommended Care: how each hospital treats eligible patients with four specific conditions—heart attack, pneumonia, heart failure, and patients having surgery (also known as the Surgical Care Improvement Project or SCIP). These were developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), and The Joint Commission, an independent, not-for-profit organization recognized nationally as a sign of quality. (Note: Both Capital Health hospitals are accredited by The Joint Commission.).
- Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs): how well each hospital is providing safe patient care based on specific issues that occur in hospitals across the country and are monitored by the AHRQ. The NJDHSS report also includes those PSIs identified by the State of New Jersey legislature.
- Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs): how well each hospital is preventing infections that patients get while staying in a hospital—infections that they did not have before being admitted. Some of the HAIs being reported by the NJDHSS include central line-associated bloodstream infection, catheter associated urinary tract infection, and surgical site infection after abdominal hysterectomy, colon, and total knee replacement. These measures were developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).