Published on August 20, 2010

Genesis Low Mortality Rate Ranks With Top U.S. Hospitals

Genesis Health System patient safety initiatives are saving lives.

Hospitals across the nation use a formula that measures mortality rates based on acuity, or severity of illness, and compares actual or observed outcomes to expected outcomes. An average result comparing observed outcome to expected outcome would be 1.0.

In fiscal year 2010, Genesis Medical Center campuses in Davenport, DeWitt and Silvis had a combined "observed to expected” ratio of .72. The Illini Campus had a remarkable .56; the Davenport campus had a .77; and, the DeWitt campus had a .99.

Determining observed to expected mortality is adjusted for the acuity, or severity, of a patient's condition.

“It means that Genesis hospitals experienced 161 fewer deaths of patients than would have been expected of patients in their condition,” explained Jon Lemke, Ph.D., Chief of Biostatistics, Genesis Health System. “The Genesis observed/ expected ratios were truly remarkable.

“In 1,000 years, leaving everything to chance, you would have one year with a ratio of .85. To get below that, and in the case of Davenport and Silvis, far below, is amazing. That means that you haven’t gotten there by coincidence. Something else is happening.”

By comparison, Lemke said the top 10 health systems in the country ranked in patient safety by Thomson Reuters had a median observed/expected ratio of .89.

“There are probably many factors at work to have these kinds of results,” Lemke said.  “Certainly, system-wide patient safety initiatives are having an impact. Better diagnosis could be a factor. New treatment options and new technology could also be important factors.  You don’t have results like this without doing many things right.”

The emphasis on patient safety and outcomes has come directly from the top.

In his more than two years with Genesis Health System, CEO and President Doug Cropper has made quality of care and patient safety the two highest priorities. The result has been a culture of quality care and patient safety.

The system-wide effort has many elements and levels.

Genesis employees are reminded each day that there are still occasional serious patient safety events. They can follow the counter on the employee intranet site that shows when the last serious safety event occurred.

Employees also receive a daily safety message. At individual department meetings, even in departments not caring for patients, the top item on every agenda is safety.

When there is an adverse event, reviews are conducted quickly following the event to examine the facts and determine how the error could have been prevented. Also, employees are encouraged to report safety events or conditions that could result in harm to a patient even if there was no harm done.

“One of the elements of a culture of quality and safety is made possible by being transparent and sharing data both within the organization and with the public,” said Jim Lehman, M.D., and Vice President of Quality, Genesis Health System. “There is a lot of quality data available to the public about hospitals. I think once consumers are confident in their ability to understand this data, they will use the data to become educated health care consumers.”

The low mortality rate at Genesis Medical Center, Illini is just one measurement of patient safety and quality available to consumers.

For example, according to the information available at www.healthcarereportcard.Illinois.gov, the Illini Campus hospital is No. 1 among Rock Island County hospitals in overall heart attack care, No. 1 in
overall heart failure care, No. 1 in overall pneumonia care and has the highest patient satisfaction scores for all Rock Island County hospitals.

Genesis welcomes comments and questions about quality of care and patient safety. More detail is available at www.genesishealth.com/quality.