OHA Welcomes Release of Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio Results for Ontario Acute Care Hospitals
Ontario Hospital Association
200 Front Street West, Suite 2800
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3L1
Tel: (416) 205-1345 Fax: (416) 205-1360
Visit our Web Site: http://www.oha.com
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Toronto – Today the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) welcomed a new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) that provides Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR) trend results for Canadian acute care hospitals.
“Patient safety and quality improvement have always been priorities for Ontario hospitals,” said Hilary Short, President and CEO of the OHA. “The OHA welcomes CIHI’s reporting of HSMR results for hospitals as a valuable addition to the patient safety, transparency and quality improvement efforts already underway in hospitals across the province.”
HSMR is known as a “big dot” indicator that can serve as a flag to hospital and physician leaders to identify areas for system-level quality improvements that may help reduce deaths that occur in hospital. Hospitals in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden and Holland have used HSMR data to monitor performance and reduce mortality rates.
“While today is the first time the public is seeing the data, HSMR is not new,” said Short. “Many Ontario hospitals have been using their HSMR data for the past three years to examine their results, identify areas for improvement, implement strategies to improve patient safety, and track their results over time.”
Some of the actions hospitals are taking to improve patient safety in their organizations include:
• Establishing Quality Committees that report regularly to the hospital’s Board on the safety and quality of hospital care
• Implementing internal hospital policies that support the disclosure of adverse events to patients, and reviews when critical incidents occur
• Participating in the Canadian Patient Safety Institute’s “Safer Healthcare Now!” campaign
“Ontario’s hospitals are working hard to further improve the quality of care they provide,” added Short. “From their regular quality improvement reviews, to enrolling in the “Safer Healthcare Now!” campaign, to regular discussions of patient safety results by hospital trustees, hospitals and health providers are doing what they can to make Ontario’s world-class health care system safer.”
The report is available electronically from the CIHI website at www.cihi.ca.
For further information:
OHA Public Affairs
416-205-1371