Oct. 16-22 marks this Healthcare Quality Week! This important week recognizes the importance and awareness of the professions that work in health care quality, especially important as we look back at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic patient safety and quality. Our agility in the state through partnership and hospital involvement – from large urban systems to small, critical access hospitals – has allowed us to have a greater impact on equity, sharing resources and optimizing capacity across hospitals. This speaks to our members’ widespread commitment and the value they place on this important work.
Some of our recent successes in the safety and quality arena include the introduction of an antimicrobial stewardship state law in 2022 and the continuation of the Medicaid Quality Improvement Incentive, which focuses on funding opportunities in addition to improvement efforts hospitals conducted. WSHA’s broader safety and quality improvement work includes initiatives related to behavioral health, health equity, maternal and infant health, fall prevention, opioid stewardship and infections. This work takes the form of collaboration and coaching, including through webinars and DELTA Days, which offer hospitals a chance to rapidly improve their performance in targeted areas.
Our team would also like to emphasize the continued importance of industry-recognized health care quality competencies and support our members in this work. Critical access hospital can apply for funding to support quality-related education and certification, including Certification of Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ), Certification of Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) and Certification of Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) through the Department of Health Flex Grant. WSHA provides ACHE and nursing continuing education contract hours for many of our learning collaboratives, which can be applied to the continuing education requirements for these certifications.
Thank you for all that you do continuously in your organization and communities!
Sincerely,
Darcy Jaffe, ARNP FACHE
WSHA Senior Vice President, Safety & Quality
darcyj@wsha.org
