Newswise — DETROIT, February 11, 2011 –Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, and 22 trauma centers throughout the state, in partnership with the American College of Surgeons, are launching an initiative aimed at improving quality and safety of care provided in Michigan’s trauma centers. This initiative, called the Michigan Trauma Quality Improvement Program, will create a statewide infrastructure for trauma hospitals to measure and improve patient outcomes, identify best practices for quality and safety of care, and share data to make trauma care more effective. Each participating hospital will enroll in the national American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP)
Mark Hemmila, MD, FACS, associate professor of surgery at the University of Michigan, serves as the collaborative’s program director. The University of Michigan Health System will act as the coordinating center, and will collect and analyze clinical data from participating hospitals.
“This is the first effort to address the need for a statewide trauma center infrastructure to measure quality,” said Dr. Hemmila. “M-TQIP will address inconsistencies in outcomes by creating standards for measuring quality and safety. Trauma centers statewide will collect, analyze and share data, and develop collective knowledge of what works best in particular patient care situations.”
According to the National Trauma Institute, “traumatic injury is a major public health problem in the United States. Each year, trauma accounts for 37 million emergency department visits and 2.6 million hospital admissions. The effect of trauma on productive life years lost exceeds that of any other disease. The economic cost in the year 2000 was $406 billion, which includes estimates of $80 billion in medical care costs.”
"In trauma care, there is substantial variation in care delivery, which can affect patient outcomes,” said David Share, MD, MPH, executive medical director, Health Care Quality, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
“This initiative unites trauma hospitals statewide around a goal of creating standards for measuring trauma care quality. This will allow Michigan hospitals to develop and implement best practices and improve care outcomes. Improvements in trauma care can significantly increase survival and function of Michigan’s residents who experience traumatic injury, improving public health and reducing medical costs as a result.”
The initiative’s first phase launched in January 2011 with the following hospitals:• Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo• Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo• Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit• Genesys Regional Medical Center, Grand Blanc• Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit• Hurley Medical Center, Flint• Marquette General Health System, Marquette• Munson Medical Center, Traverse City• POH Regional Medical Center, Pontiac• Sinai Grace Hospital, Detroit• Sparrow Hospital, Lansing• St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor• University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor• William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak
By January 2012, eight more trauma centers will join the initiative, bringing the Michigan total to all of the state’s 22 verified level 1 and 2 trauma centers. Each of these hospitals also will be enrolled in the ACS national TQIP. Currently, the ACS national program has 111 participating centers.
“The Michigan collaboration is a significant addition to our national program, and their participation will be a valuable asset to the ACS TQIP,” said Avery B. Nathens, MD, PhD, FACS, Chair, ACS National Trauma Data Bank Subcommittee.
This initiative is not the first time that Michigan hospitals have partnered with ACS. Currently, through the BCBSM/BCN funded Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, 34 Michigan hospitals are participating in the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®).
Since joining the program in 2005, Michigan hospitals have reduced mortality rates by 10 percent, overall complications by 37 percent and surgical site infections by 18 percent.
The Michigan Trauma Quality Improvement Program is part of Value Partnerships, a collection of collaborative initiatives among physicians, hospitals and the Michigan Blues, all aimed at improving quality in medical care. To learn more, go to www.valuepartnerships.com.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a nonprofit corporation and independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more company information, visit bcbsm.com.
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is an important advocate for surgical patients and its members are dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. The College has more than 77,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information visit: www.facs.org.
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