In 1999, the Institute of Medicine estimated that as many as 98,000 people die each year in U.S. hospitals due to medical injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 2 million patients suffer hospital-acquired infections each year. That's not acceptable, and Henry Ford is leading the way in changing those outcomes.
Henry Ford Hospital has been participating in a quality initiative to impact five million lives nationally by implementing proven health care techniques and avoid medical harm incidents
The Five Million Lives campaign builds upon the success of the Save 100,000 Lives Campaign launched by the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). The initial campaign resulted in 3,100 participating hospitals reducing inpatient deaths by an estimated 122,000 in 18 months through overall improvement of care. The Five Million Lives Campaign asks hospitals to improve more rapidly than before the care they provide in order to protect five million patients from incidents of medical harm over a 24-month period, ending December 9, 2008.
Henry Ford was the first hospital in Michigan to join the "100,000 Lives" campaign.
This country has a health care system that is fragmented, prone to medical errors and detrimental to the goal of safe patient care," says William Conway, M.D., Henry Ford's chief quality officer. "For instance, there are 15 million incidents of medical harm in U.S. hospitals each year. Henry Ford is helping lead the way in eliminating these incidents and making health care safer."
The campaign has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
The health care organizations that join this campaign are not only demonstrating their commitment to improvement but their determination to put proven, life-saving improvement techniques into action," says Donald Berwick, M.D., president and CEO of IHI.
