Missouri Hospital Association

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement unveiled a national campaign to dramatically reduce incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals. The “5 Million Lives Campaign” will ask hospitals to rapidly improve the care they provide to protect patients from five million incidents of medical harm during a 24-month period that ends Dec. 9, 2008.

The IHI campaign builds on the success of its “100,000 Lives Campaign,” in which 3,100 participating hospitals reduced inpatient deaths by an estimated 122,000 in 18 months through overall improvement in care, including improvement associated with six interventions recommended by the initiative.

To date, more than 3,100 acute care hospitals in the United States have enrolled in the campaign to transform the quality of health care. That number grows each day as hospitals of all types join the campaign to improve care in their organizations.

The “5 Million Lives Campaign” aims to enlist 4,000 hospitals, challenging all to adopt as many as 12 of the following interventions. Six were included in the “100,000 Lives Campaign,” and six are new.

New Interventions

prevent methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection by reliably implementing scientifically proven infection control practices throughout the hospital
reduce harm from high-alert medications, starting with a focus on anticoagulants, sedatives, narcotics and insulin
reduce surgical complications by reliably implementing the changes in care recommended by the Surgical Care Improvement Project
prevent pressure ulcers by reliably using science-based guidelines for prevention of this serious and common complication
deliver reliable, evidence-based care for congestive heart failure to reduce readmissions
engage board participation by defining and spreading new and leveraged processes for hospitals’ boards of directors so they can become more effective in accelerating the improvement of care

Interventions from the “100,000 Lives Campaign”

deploy rapid response teams at the first sign of patient decline and before a catastrophic cardiac or respiratory event
deliver reliable, evidence-based care for acute myocardial infarction to prevent deaths from heart attack
prevent adverse drug events by reconciling patient medications at every transition point
prevent central line infections by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps
prevent surgical site infections by following a series of steps, including reliable, timely administration of correct perioperative antibiotics
prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia by implementing a series of interdependent, scientifically grounded steps

There is no cost for hospitals to join the campaign. However, there is an obligation to adopt a least one intervention and an expectation of regularly reporting hospital profile and mortality data throughout the campaign.
Learn More

Signing up and participating in the campaign is free and simple. To do so, your hospital only needs to do the following:

Interested hospitals may submit intervention-level process data to help them understand where they stand with implementation, but this is not a program requirement. All data are easily submitted on a password-protected extranet for enrolled hospitals.

We must stress that hospital-specific data, including the hospital profile, will not be published or shared with any other organization. IHI’s current plans for public reporting involve sharing the names of hospitals and systems enrolled in the campaign and the number of lives saved, in aggregate, from all campaign hospitals. This is not a public reporting effort; this is about improving care and saving lives. If you have further questions on data submission, please refer to the campaign’s Web site.

MHA is frequently asked by legislators, regulators and business groups what Missouri hospitals are doing to prevent medical harm and improve patient safety and outcomes. Participation in the 5 Million Lives Campaign not only demonstrates your hospital’s commitment to addressing these issues but also offers your hospital the following advantages.

We hope you will join the new campaign to team up with the Missouri Hospital Association, Primaris and the Missouri Center for Patient Safety to prevent 5 million incidents of harm by December 2008. Please join us and the 3,100 other hospitals that are ensuring the safety and high quality of care at every hospital.

If you have questions, please contact Sharon Burnett, vice president of licensure, regulation and accreditation, at 573/893-3700, ext. 1304 or sburnett@mail.mhanet.com.