MBGH Annual Awards
Memphis Business Group On Health Recognizes Quality-Focused Health Plans and Hospitals at Awards Luncheon April 28, 2011
Memphis,
Tenn. – The Memphis Business Group on Health (MBGH), Memphis’s only non-profit organization
focused on employee health and wellness issues from the employers’ perspective,
recognized two health insurance companies and five regional hospitals for their
progress toward improving health care quality in the region in 2010.
MBGH CEO Cristie Travis recognized
two health plans for scoring in the top 15% nationally on the eValue8 health
plan assessment in key areas of measurement.
“BlueCross BlueShield of
Tennessee scored exceptionally in the eValue8 assessment in the areas of
Consumer Engagement, Chronic Disease Management, and Provider Performance
Measurement,” said Travis. “UnitedHealthcare of Tennessee performed exceptionally
in the area of consumer engagement. Their performance signals important steps
in improving the overall health of the area and consumer engagement is the
lynchpin of any future success.”
For hospitals, this year’s
focus for quality was reducing the number of elective deliveries performed
before the baby was full term as reported through The Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
The number of elective early deliveries has been on the rise nationally despite
research that shows early delivery increases risks for the newborn and
contributes to increased medical costs.
Leapfrog set the standard
percentage for deliveries made early to less than 12 percent in 2010. It will
reduce it to less than 5 percent in 2011.
Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women and
Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis already meet next year’s bar. Both hospitals reported
less than five percent of their babies electively delivered before full term
and are being recognized for exceptional performance.
Methodist LeBonheur
Germantown, Methodist South Hospital, and The Regional Medical Center at
Memphis were recognized for having less than 12 percent of their babies
electively delivered before full term.
“It is encouraging to see
these five hospitals at or below this critical benchmark,” said Travis.
“Pregnancy in those final weeks can be very uncomfortable for the mother and
stressful for the family, but each day in the womb reduces the baby’s risk of
complications, thereby avoiding tragedy and lowering medical costs. We hope
more area hospitals and physicians will work to promote the benefits of
carrying babies to full term.”
The annual Leapfrog Hospital
Survey is the gold standard for comparing hospitals’ performance on the
national standards of safety, quality, and efficiency that are most relevant to
consumers and purchasers of care. Leapfrog uses a panel of experts to
select measures that are evidence-based in peer-reviewed literature and have
the most dramatic impact on patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness.
eValue8, a program of the National Business Coalition on Health, is the leading
evidence-based health plan evaluation program widely used by business health coalitions,
their purchaser members, and national employers to assess and manage the
quality of their healthcare vendors.
About Memphis Business Group on Health
Memphis Business Group on
Health is a coalition of member employers sharing solutions and providing tools
to manage the cost and quality of health benefits in an ever-changing
environment. We accomplish this by providing access to critical market data,
facilitating best-practice sharing among the market’s leading employers, and
offering practical tools for successfully managing health benefits. MBGH
members, affiliates and supporters provide health benefits to more than 350,000
covered lives in the greater Memphis area and Tennessee.
2010
All of the 2010 MBGH Leapfrog Hospital awardees gather for a group picture with Leah Binder, CEO of The Leapfrog Group,
MBGH Recognizes Local Hospitals for Excellence on National Scale
MEMPHIS, TN, April 28, 2010 – According to new results from the 2009 Leapfrog
Hospital Survey released today at Memphis Business Group on Health’s (MBGH’s) Annual
Awards Luncheon, Memphis hospitals lead the nation in certain areas of quality.
Of
the 15 Memphis-area hospitals that completed the 2009 Leapfrog Hospital Survey,
Memphis-area hospitals compared well with national averages for the quality of
care provided for heart angioplasty, aortic valve replacement, pancreatic
resection, esophageal resection, bariatric (weight loss) surgery, and high-risk
deliveries.
The
luncheon’s speaker was The Leapfrog Group’s CEO, Leah Binder.
Standouts on the national
front:
In addition to releasing the Memphis-area results for the Leapfrog
Survey, MBGH recognized local
hospitals that have high performance scores in the Leapfrog Survey in six areas
of patient care determining “best odds of survival.” Hospitals receiving recognition included:
Baptist Memorial Hospital – De
Soto: Heart Bypass
Baptist Memorial Hospital –
Memphis: Heart Bypass, Aortic Valve Replacement, Pancreatic Resection,
Esophageal Resection
Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown
Hospital: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
Methodist University Hospital:
Pancreatic Resection, Esophageal Resection
St. Francis Hospital: Abdominal
Aortic Aneurysm Repair, Pancreatic Resection
In
addition, Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospitals was recognized for fully
meeting the Heart Angioplasty measure, which scored both the hospital’s quality
and cost of care.
“It’s exciting to host this event, release the 2009 Leapfrog results for
Memphis and recognize our local hospitals for their efforts to improve care,”
said Cristie Upshaw Travis, CEO of the MBGH. “In the past, hospitals have
chosen not to share this information, so employers and employees were making
decisions without critical information,” said Travis. “This is a voluntary
survey, and it reflects very positively on the Memphis healthcare community
that these hospitals are willing to participate and expose themselves to
scrutiny that’s not mandatory.”
Improvement is still
mission-critical:
Hospital
quality in Memphis still needs significant improvement, with 80% of hospitals
meeting 50% or fewer of the “leaps” that applied to their facility.
“Over
the years, we have seen more hospitals meeting more leaps,” said Travis. “This
year, that growth was modest, but we commend the hospitals for maintaining many
of the advancements made in recent years. Still, the vast majority of our
hospitals are meeting no more than half of the leaps that apply to their
facility, and that’s very concerning.”
Waste solutions are a
priority:
Waste associated with certain types of care emerged as a significant
problem in the Leapfrog Survey for Memphis-area hospitals. In 2009, 86% of the hospitals scored
in the lowest possible category compared to hospitals nationally for waste
associated with heart bypass surgery. For heart angioplasty, 43% of the
hospitals scored in the lowest possible category and 43% showed some progress
in reducing waste.
To
gauge waste, Leapfrog based its assessment on risk-adjusted mean length of stay
tempered by readmission rates. Length of stay is a strong determinant of cost
and waste.
“The
generally poor performance of Memphis-area hospitals in resource use highlights
the opportunities that exist for significantly cutting the costs of care here
in Memphis. Employers and other large purchasers of care need to be assertive
in demanding hospitals reduce this waste and improve their Leapfrog performance,”
said Travis.
Why Leapfrog matters:
The Leapfrog Group uses the collective
leverage of large purchasers of health care (employers) to initiate
breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health
care for Americans. Results are always made transparent by the participating hospital,
and MBGH’s members use survey results to inform their employees and purchasing
strategies. More Memphis-area employers are using Leapfrog performance data in
decision-making for contracting, pay for performance, and benefits design. MBGH is one of
43 official Regional Roll-Outs for The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org).
The annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey is the
gold standard for comparing hospitals’ performance on the national standards of
safety, quality, and efficiency that are most relevant to consumers and
purchasers of care. Leapfrog uses a
panel of experts to select measures that are evidence-based in peer-reviewed
literature and have the most dramatic impact on patient outcomes and
cost-effectiveness.
See a powerpoint presentation summarizing results for Memphis-area hospital performance on the 2009 Leapfrog Annual Hospital Survey.