Ortonville Area Health Services Recognized for Excellence

Ortonville Area Health Services (OAHS) was recognized by the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) for superior performance in quality and patient safety as part of MHA’s Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN). MHA was chosen to participate in HIIN as one of 16 national, regional, or state organizations selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. All 123 hospitals in MHA’s HIIN are working to reduce overall patient harm by 20 percent and 30-day hospital readmissions by 12 percent.

OAHS earned recognition by being a leader in quality improvement in the MHA HIIN. OAHS invested resources to report on at least 75 percent of process measures, met HIIN reduction goals on 70 percent of eligible outcome measures and implemented patient and family engagement efforts. OAHS continues to concentrate on 14 of the HIIN focus areas, including medication safety; reducing numbers of infections, falls, sepsis, and pressure injuries; and partnering with patients and families for better outcomes.

“OAHS has demonstrated a commitment to strengthening patient safety in Minnesota, contributing to our state’s well-deserved reputation for high-quality health care,” said Dr. Rahul Koranne, MHA’s chief medical officer. “Working in partnership, care team members from hospitals and health systems across the state are improving health outcomes for our patients, families, and communities.”

OAHS has partnered with MHA for years through HIIN with a major focus on falls and readmissions. The nursing team has been instrumental in implementing interventions, which included morning huddles, where staff from multiple departments discuss current inpatient status and pertinent patient safety issues. It also included the development of education packets on high-risk conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to help patients better manage care at home. Post-fall assessments and the Falling Stars campaign to help visually identify patients who are at a high risk for a fall were also created.

“I am extremely proud to be a part of such a wonderful team that is focused on patient safety and continuous improvement,” said Natasha Haukos, Quality/Patient Safety RN. “Every day I walk through many different departments and work with many different team members, so it’s easy for me to sit back and get the full picture of OAHS, and it is apparent that patients come first. It’s the culture that’s been created to allow us to recognize what we need to work on and then move forward diligently to improve that makes me proud to be in this role every day.”

For more information about quality and patient safety efforts at Minnesota’s hospitals and health systems, visit www.mnhospitals.org/quality-patient-safety.