2004

Asthma and Bronchiolitis Best Practices Earn Cincinnati Children's Award of Excellence

Friday, April 23, 2004

A fundamental redesign of delivery systems at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has resulted in a 37 percent reduction in hospitalizations for asthma, a 65 percent reduction in hospitalizations for bronchiolitis and a 50 percent reduction in hospital days for four key conditions.

These performance improvement efforts also have earned Cincinnati Children's a 2004 "RACE for Results" award from the Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA). Cincinnati Children's is one of just two children's hospitals in the nation to have received this award of excellence from CHCA, which is a business alliance of 41 of North America's leading children's hospitals.

The award is given to children's hospitals that demonstrate significant and sustained improvements in care. Cincinnati Children's earned a "RACE for Results" award for its significant strides in optimizing health outcomes for children with asthma and bronchiolitis.

Through a series of processes that involved multidisciplinary teams developing and implementing asthma and bronchiolitis point-of-care treatment algorithms, scoring and treatment recommendations, clinical criteria for admission, discharge and intensive care, clinical pathways and patient education materials, Cincinnati Children's was able to reduce hospitalization, costs and length of stays when hospitalization was needed.

"We are very pleased to be honored by CHCA for our efforts in establishing best practices for asthma and bronchiolitis," says Uma Kotagal, MD, vice president of quality and transformation at Cincinnati Children's. "Implementing these best practices is resulting in better outcomes for the children who seek treatment in our hospital -- and that's what it's all about."

"We are fortunate to have access to CHCA's Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) data to help us identify baseline best practices that we use to refine our processes to provide community-wide, family- and patient-centered, evidence-based care for children with acute illnesses," she adds. "Asthma and bronchiolitis treatment practices are just two conditions for which PHIS data is helping us improve clinical practices."

Cincinnati Children's is currently engaged in a hospital-wide effort to transform the way it delivers care. This is being done based on family-centered principles and evidence-based care at every decision point. Evidence-based care means basing clinical decisions on scientific evidence for that care being the best practice. Family-centered principles have resulted in families being included on physician rounds and in decision-making about their children's care.

Cincinnati Children's was selected for the "RACE for Results" award from among 13 entries representing children's hospitals across the United States. Arkansas Children's Hospital also earned a "Race for Results" award.

CHCA is a business alliance of 41 of North America's leading children's hospitals that provides a range of products and services designed to reduce costs, increase revenue and enhance the competitive position of children's hospitals. CHCA represents more than 20,000 physicians, 98,000 employees, $11 billion in revenue and $1.8 billion in overall medical / surgical and pharmaceutical products.