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National Acclaim

Michigan has become a model for the nation in the way it improves patient safety and reduces costs by improving the quality of care delivered. That is because the MHA Keystone Center has the unique ability to advance a single improvement initiative by bringing together hospitals, state and national patient safety experts, and evidence-based best practices.

Since the MHA Keystone Center's establishment in 2003, the successes of the clinical teams in Michigan hospitals have been confirmed and validated in numerous studies from a range of highly respected medical journals.

Experts not affiliated with the MHA Keystone Center have published studies detailing measurable successes. Below are just a few examples:

A 2011 study in the American Journal of Medical Quality has become the most compelling study to date affirming the cost savings of the health care quality improvements of an MHA Keystone Center project. That study indicates that:

• Michigan hospitals participating in the MHA Keystone: Intensive Care Unit (ICU) project prevented 3.4 to 7.2 central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) deaths per year over a three-year period.
• Using conservative estimates for averted costs of $36,500 per CLABSI and $10,000 per episode of ventilator-associated pneumonia, an average hospital would not only save lives by implementing MHA Keystone: ICU, but save roughly $1.1 million in costs per year.

Results from a January 2010 study in the British Medical Journal indicated the following:

• Reductions in mortality observed in this study yield estimated annual savings of 993 lives among Medicare patients in Michigan.
• If Michigan's multifaceted quality improvement intervention and collaborative model were implemented in all ICUs across the United States and similar success was achieved, substantial and persistent reductions could be made in the 82,000 infections, 28,000 deaths and $2.3 billion in costs attributed to these infections annually.

According to the Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants:

• The MHA Keystone: ICU project helped to increase awareness of checklist use. Checklists assist with memory recall and are a proven method for improving communication and enhancing teamwork, leading to greater patient safety and fewer medical errors.

According to a study recently released in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety:

• Michigan hospitals participating in the MHA Keystone: Obstetrics project reduced elective labor inductions and elective cesarean births before 39 weeks, resulting in healthier newborns and improved safety culture among clinical teams.
• From January through November 2009, Michigan hospitals reduced elective labor inductions before 39 weeks by 62 percent and reduced elective cesarean births before 39 weeks by 68 percent.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius highlighted the MHA Keystone Center in her very first health care "success story" report, part of a series that documents innovative programs and initiatives that can serve as models for American health care reform. The report highlighted that voluntary efforts of Michigan hospitals dramatically reduced the number of health care-associated infections in ICUs, saving more than 1,500 lives and $200 million over 18 months.