Illinois Hospital Association

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June 6, 2007

IHA and IHI 5 Million Lives Campaign Opportunities

Over 160 Illinois hospitals are now participating in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) 5 Million Lives Campaign aimed at implementing successful interventions to reduce patient harm. Currently hospitals should be completing their IHI profiles and identifying the areas that they wish to focus on during this campaign.

Besides the rapid growth in participation in the IHI Campaign in Illinois, Illinois also has the largest volume of mentor hospitals from one state that are providing guidance and support to all IHI participating hospitals. Besides being the largest mentoring state in the nation, these mentor hospitals sometimes receive inquiries from hospitals in other countries that are participating in the international arm of the IHI campaign. To qualify to be a mentor hospital, one must be interviewed by IHI staff, share demonstrable improvement efforts and quantitative results, and agree to share their knowledge and expertise with other hospitals participating in the IHI Campaign.

Upcoming IHA and IHI Events
After the major Illinois kickoff event on May 24, IHA has a series of additional events planned to ensure that hospitals are aware of the multitude of free resources available through IHI as well as the value of participation in the Campaign.

IHA Small and Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting. On June 21, Ben Chaska, M.D., M.B.A., from a Minnesota Critical Access Hospital will be discussing how they have had a significant impact on their community by implementing the IHI initiatives. In particular, Dr. Chaska will focus on the ability of their hospital to retain and care for patients that had typically been transferred in the past and at the same time building a healthy financial bottom line. Dr. Whittington will highlight the new initiatives and their importance and discuss how rural hospitals throughout the nation are now incorporating them into their practice. These discussions will occur on June 21 at the IHA Small and Rural Hospitals Annual Meeting being held June 19 through June 21.

IHA Leadership Summit in September. At the IHA Leadership Summit in September, Dr. James Reinertsen will highlight the importance of engaging physicians and boards in the quality improvement process. Dr. Reinertsen will highlight the changing nature of these relationships and discuss how participation in the IHI 5 Million Lives Campaign can be a starting point to advance the executive, governance, and clinical areas all working toward a common goal of quality improvement.

IHI Action Day. IHI has designated June 20 as IHI Action Day --- to move hospitals from research and study modes to Action. IHI will host an international Webinar for all IHI participating hospitals with presentations from Dr. Berwick and IHI’s Campaign leaders and mentor hospitals on Action Day. The Webinar is open to all IHI participants and participation is encouraged. For hospitals unable to attend or participate on June 20 --- the entire day can be broadcast on any day after June 20 in whole or in part by accessing the Action Day broadcast that will be placed on the IHI website.

The following are tips provided by IHI to make the most of National Action Day:
  • Invite those most responsible for putting the Campaign’s interventions into action to join this special day of learning. The tips and strategies presented on National Action Day will be directed to frontline teams, but quality managers, teams, and task forces - as well as hospital leaders - are also encouraged to take part to use the day to set overall aims and goals.
  • Be prepared! Slides and other materials will be available for download from the IHI website on Monday, June 18 to support the National Action Day learning sessions. We invite you to review these slides prior to June 20 if possible.
  • Raise awareness of National Action Day within your organization. Use the National Action Day flyer template (click here). Send an invitation to join one or more of the sessions through your hospital’s email system. Include it in your organization’s newsletter as the Catholic Health Association recently did (click here to view).
  • Make sure you meet the technical requirements for June 20. National Action Day will be available online through WebEx, a web conferencing tool that allows users from around the country to participate in synchronous learning. You can join by phone for audio only or - to view slides and other materials - through a computer. For details on technical requirements, please read the National Action Day page (click here).
  • Take 15 minutes before June 20 to help ensure logging onto your National Action Day sessions goes smoothly. Join the connectivity testing days by choosing any time that is convenient for you between 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 or between 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Eastern Time Monday, June 18, 2007. Participating in the National Action connectivity testing is not required, but it is strongly recommended to make sure the computer you plan to use that day can successfully connect to WebEx and to allow for download of WebEx software before June 20.
  • Review the National Action Day schedule (click here) and decide how your organization can benefit most from the day-long series of content. In addition to attending the sessions on the Campaign’s clinical interventions, consider having members of your team join the sessions on MRSA, Getting Boards on Board, the Role of Leadership, Spread and Sustainability, and Campaign measurement. Also, since the June 20 calls will be recorded, consider using some of them for meetings at your hospital on a different date.

    • If you have additional questions on participation in the IHI 5 Million Lives Campaign or any of these events, please e-mail Pat Merryweather at pmerryweather@ihastaff.org  or Tim Philipp at tphilipp@ihastaff.org.