Madison Memorial Hospital Earns 2017 Qualis Health Quality Award

Madison Memorial Hospital earned the Award of Excellence from Qualis Health for the hospital’s “Quality-Driven Medication Reconciliation” program.

“Medication safety is crucial during times of care transition,” said Mikel Barr, RN, Director of Quality at Madison Memorial.

“But when a patient is admitted to the hospital, it is not uncommon for their primary care physician to be uninvolved with their care. In cases like these a patient may experience interruptions in medications for chronic conditions, variations in the dosage of those medications, or even be prescribed new medications. These changes can result in flare-ups of the chronic condition, may affect the patient’s ability to recover from the acute condition for which they were hospitalized, or cause dangerous drug interactions.”

To address this disconnect, Madison Memorial Hospital piloted an innovative medication reconciliation program, with the aim of improving patient safety by preventing adverse drug events and reducing hospital readmissions.

At the focus of the program, certified pharmacy technicians complete a medication reconciliation review with patients and families on admission. Their goal is to fully communicate with patients and families so that the patient has a clear understanding of the medications they should be taking when they leave the hospital or move to the next level of care.

As a result, Madison Memorial has reduced its number of medication reconciliation errors significantly, with the effect of reducing the number of adverse drug events from 30 in 2015 to 12 in 2016, and readmissions from 92 in 2015 to 70 in 2016.

Qualis Health is one of the nation’s leading population health management organizations, and it distinguished Madison Memorial Hospital along with other medical organizations throughout Idaho for continued improvement in healthcare quality and outcomes.

Award recipients were recognized during a ceremony at the Idaho Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Conference in Boise, Idaho. Kelly McGrath, MD, MS, Qualis Health Idaho Medical Director, presented the awards.

The awards recognize those who demonstrate outcomes to the three broad aims outlined in the National Quality Strategy:

• Better healthcare (for individuals)

• Better health (for populations)

• Reduced costs through improvement