America’s Essential Hospitals recently awarded five Gage Awards for outstanding work to improve health care quality and population health, and UAB Medicine received two of the five. The Gage Awards honor creative and successful programs that enhance patient care and meet community needs.
In the population health category, UAB Hospital was cited for opening a transitional care clinic inside the hospital to serve as a medical home for uninsured heart failure patients without a primary care provider. Since 2014, the program has decreased patient costs and reduced the 30-day hospital readmission rate from 20 percent to 6.7 percent.
“We are proud that this program was recognized for its strategic alignment of hospital nursing, the UAB School of Nursing and our community partners to provide the best care for our patients,” said Anthony Patterson, R.N., MSHA, senior vice president of UAB Medicine’s Inpatient Services. “This project reflects the dedication and commitment our staff and faculty have for our patients and demonstrates the importance of UAB Medicine’s assuming a leadership role to bring different partners together to benefit the community.”
In the quality category, UAB Hospital’s Golden Week Program was recognized for educating staff to improve care and outcomes of premature infants born at gestational ages younger than 28 weeks. In the eight weeks after starting the program, the rate of severe intraventricular hemorrhage in the first week of life fell from 20.4 percent to 10.3 percent.
| The 2017 Gage Awards program honors the outstanding work of members of America’s Essential Hospitals, whose more than 300 members care for low-income Americans and others in need. |
“The Golden Week Program, developed by a collaborative multidisciplinary team, shows promising results for preterm infants,” Patterson said. “The Golden Week Program demonstrates UAB Medicine’s dedication to the highest-quality care for all of our patients.”
The 2017 Gage Awards program honors the outstanding work of members of America’s Essential Hospitals, whose more than 300 members care for low-income Americans and others in need. Through the Gage Awards, America’s Essential Hospitals recognizes the learning necessary for members to successfully carry out improvement projects, spreads best practices and innovative programs to other organizations, and supports research, policy and advocacy work by sharing stories of members.