The Valley Hospital Named a Partnership for Patients Mentor Hospital

The New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) has recognized The Valley Hospital as a Mentor Hospital for its participation in the nationwide Partnership for Patients initiative. This distinction underscores Valley’s efforts to not only implement hospital-wide safety and quality improvement programs but also share clinical expertise and best practices with other member hospitals.

The Partnership for Patients, a program of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, was formed to make hospital care safer, more efficient and less costly and is comprised of 26 regional and hospital-led Hospital Engagement Networks (HENs). As a Mentor Hospital in the NJHA HEN, Valley provides support to fellow member hospitals through collaboratives and other learning programs.

“In partnering with other organizations to exchange insights and capabilities, we’re keeping everyone engaged and focused on improving patient care,” says Michael Mutter, Director of Patient Safety at Valley.

Statewide between 2012 and 2013, the quality efforts made by NJHA HEN hospitals—including Valley—resulted in the prevention of 9,206 potential cases of harm, saving $102–125 million in healthcare costs.

One notable example is Valley’s efforts with other NJHA HEN hospitals to reduce the number of elective deliveries before babies have reached 39 weeks gestation. Preventing such early deliveries has been shown to help lower the risk of complications for both mothers and babies. Throughout New Jersey, elective early deliveries have been reduced by nearly 39%; Valley’s own rate of elective deliveries is less than 1%.

“We’ve made great strides in this area, as well as with events related to adverse drug events, hospital-acquired conditions, falls and re-hospitalizations,” Mutter says.

In addition to these collaborative efforts, Valley continues to track and report its progress in meeting various safety and quality goals.