NJHA Presents Annual Quality Improvement and Community Outreach Awards
PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Jersey Hospital Association, the state's oldest and largest healthcare trade association, held its annual awards program Friday, during NJHA's 100(th) Annual Meeting, to honor several organizations for their commitment to the state's healthcare system and the patients and communities they serve.
NJHA, through its Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, honored providers for Excellence in Quality Improvement.
Morristown Medical Center, part of Atlantic Health System, developed and implemented the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Discharge Bundle (COPD) program to prevent or reduce readmissions. Through education, proactive physician follow-up and self-management of COPD, the 30-day readmission rate for those who received the bundle was decreased by more than 10 percent.
The Manor Health and Rehabilitation Center's at CentraState tapped into the abilities and dedication of its nonclinical staff by creating the Administrative Certified Nursing Assistant Program, which trains nonclinical support staff to help with activities of daily living. This has improved response times and enabled traditional CNAs to spend more quality time at the bedside.
NJHA and its Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey recognize organizations that identify community needs and implement programs to serve those needs. They are representative of the more than $2.9 billion in community benefits that New Jersey hospitals provide annually.
In the category of enhancing access and quality of care to reduce disparities, Inspira Health Network is a founding partner and supporter of the Cumberland County Housing First Collaborative, which seeks to provide stable and sustainable no- or low-cost housing for patients in which substance abuse, criminal history or mental illness, and also offer "wrap-around" services including mental healthcare, case management and medical care. Fifty individuals have been served, among whom incarceration has been eliminated, use of Emergency Medical Services has decreased by 75 percent and hospital admissions have decreased by 34 percent.
In the category of improving nutrition and wellbeing, Virtua's Mobile Farmer's Markets serves as a public health program using "food as medicine." By integrating nutrition counseling and coaching into the program, a registered dietician who rides with the bus daily builds lasting relationships with market shoppers. The market served more than 10,000 families in 2018 with more than 40,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables.
In the category of preventing disease and injury, RWJBarnabas Health's Peer Recovery Program addresses addiction by linking individuals with substance use disorder to a peer recovery specialist, integrated into the patient care team, who provides a bedside intervention and a window to recovery. All peer recovery specialists are required to be in active recovery themselves for a minimum of four years. The program has cared for more than 3,400 patients, with 82 percent of the patients connected with a specialist in 2018 accepting recovery support services.
NJHA, based in Princeton, is a not-for-profit trade association that helps hospitals and other healthcare providers deliver quality, accessible and affordable healthcare. Its affiliates the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey and the NJHA Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, also nonprofit, engage in programming and partnerships to improve healthcare quality and access.
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SOURCE New Jersey Hospital Association
