Northwest Health Emergency Departments Named to E-qual Honor Roll
7/28/2020
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) recently named the emergency departments at Northwest Health Physicians’ Specialty Hospital, Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital to its Emergency Quality Network (E-QUAL) 2019 Honor Roll. All three were recognized for improving outcomes for sepsis patients as well as for reducing opioid harm through safer prescribing and the implementation of evidence-based interventions. They were the only hospitals in Northwest Arkansas to be named to the honor roll. Only 19 percent of the nation’s participating hospitals earned recognition.
“This achievement is an example of the hard work and dedication our emergency department professionals exhibit on a daily basis,” said Denten Park, chief executive officer for the Northwest Health market. “We’re extremely proud of our team’s dedication to keeping our patients safe and healthy when receiving care in our hospitals and when those patients return to their communities.”
The 192 emergency departments that were named to the honor roll participated in a year-long learning collaborative that includes virtual quality improvement activities and sharing of performance data, according to ACEP.
According to President of ACEP William Jaquis, M.D., FACEP, the emergency departments that participate in E-QUAL are transforming emergency medicine and advancing how care is provided for millions of people.
“The 2019 E-QUAL Honor Roll awardees are the shining example for how emergency departments can lead the way in practice transformation and quality improvements,” he said.
To date more than 1,800 emergency departments and more than 39,000 emergency medical providers have participated in E-QUAL collaboratives. E-QUAL learning collaboratives have resulted in more efficient and better care and better outcomes for patients, including:
- 25,000 lives saved from better sepsis care
- $55,000,000 saved from fewer avoidable imaging studies and hospitalizations
- 30,000 fewer patients harmed by ionizing radiation
- 23 percent increase in ALTO (Alternatives to Opioids) prescription
- 35 percent decrease in opioids administered in the emergency department
About ACEP
ACEP is a national organization that represents more than 38,000 emergency clinicians and is the leading advocate for emergency physicians, their patients and the public. The E-QUAL Network is designed to achieve higher quality patient outcomes at lower cost by creating and accumulating meaningful tools to advance local quality improvement efforts focused on improving sepsis outcomes, reducing avoidable imaging, reducing chest pain hospitalizations and reducing harm from opioids.
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