The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will continue its efforts to reduce surgical complications under the patient safety theme in the 9th Scope of Work (9SOW). The scope of the new national project has expanded and targets additional adverse events, including venous thromboembolic and cardiac complications. Safety in heart failure care was added with the inclusion of the use of ACE I and ARB in the treatment of left ventricular systolic dysfunction.
The aim of the SCIP/HF project is to improve patient safety through education, training, regional collaboration, on-site consultations and the use of improvement tools, such as order sets. A meaningful reduction in complications and overall improvement requires that surgeons, anesthesiologists, perioperative nurses, pharmacists, infection prevention professionals and hospital executives work together to intensify their commitment to making surgical care improvement a priority.
Select hospitals will partner with Quality Insights to improve the SCIP quality measures. While Quality Insights will provide technical and educational assistance to those hospitals, free tools will also be available to all hospitals in Pennsylvania. For more information on the SCIP project, please contact us.