All of our quality efforts are based on these six Institute of Medicine (IOM) aims:

• Safe — Patients should not be harmed by the care that is intended to help them. Safety needs to be designed into all that we do for patients.
• Effective — Patients deserve care that is based on the best science, rather than on tradition alone. We must be certain to practice evidence-based care.
• Equitable — Equal quality of care needs to be provided irrespective of a patient's race, ethnicity, gender or income.
• Efficient — Efficient care means avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas and energy.
• Timely — Waits and delays are wasteful for patients and providers.
• Patient-centered — Patients are a key part of the decision-making process for their care, allowing their personal preferences, values, lifestyle and family situation to guide that care.

Our Quality Measures

Clinical quality

• CMS Core Measures at St. John's, St. Joseph's and Woodwinds
• Minnesota Community Measurement Project scores for HealthEast Clinics
• Vent weaning and ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) rates at Bethesda

Patient experience

• NRC Picker Patient Satisfaction Survey scores for St. John's, St. Joseph's, Woodwinds
• Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey scores for Bethesda
• NRC Picker Patient Satisfaction Survey scores for HealthEast Clinics

Graph: Bethesda Hospital patient satisfaction scores (inpatients). Click to enlarge.

Physician satisfaction

HealthEast conducts a quarterly survey of physicians who admit to our hospitals.

Graph: Physician satisfaction survey fiscal year 2002 - 2012: extremely satisfied with HealthEast overall. Click to enlarge.

Employee engagement

HealthEast conducts an annual employee engagement survey facilitated by The Gallup Organization.

Graph: Comparing HealthEast against Gallup's 2012 health care company level database. Click to enlarge.