In a notable achievement, USA Health has emerged as one of eight healthcare organizations nationwide to be honored by healthcare consultant Press Ganey for their remarkable strides in enhancing safety through a significant reduction in serious safety events according to a news release.

USA Health clinched the esteemed HX Achievement Award for Serious Safety Event Rate Reduction, marking a commendable accomplishment with over a 70% drop in the system-level serious safety event rate. These events, characterized by deviations from expected practice leading to severe harm or even death, witnessed a remarkable decline under USA Health's stewardship. The institution also displayed commendable scores in safety culture perception, with notable enhancements in the comfort level of reporting and an encouraging trend in safety event reporting.

Becky Pomrenke, M.S.N., RN, CNL, CNS, patient safety manager at USA Health, underscored the institution's unwavering dedication to prioritizing safety.

“This award shows that USA Health is committed to making safety our top priority,” Pomrenke said in the release. “This leads our performance improvement and quality initiatives ensuring that we are constantly looking for ways to improve and provide the best possible care to our patients. The award shows that through hard work, dedication and habit formation, Safety Starts with Me works in decreasing patient harm.”

Dr. Michael Chang, Chief Medical Officer at USA Health, emphasized the institution's trajectory toward achieving high reliability standards.

"At USA Health, our pursuit of high reliability is synonymous with consistent performance over time, aligned with our vision," Chang said.

USA Health embarked on its safety journey in January 2020 with the establishment of a robust safety department and the initiation of the Safety Starts with Me initiative, aimed at fostering high reliability. Collaborating with Press Ganey, the institution crafted a tailored, comprehensive program tailored to its unique requirements.

“Through systemwide education on universal skills, fair and just culture, and safety leadership skills training, we have set the expectations for all staff that safety comes first,” Pomrenke said. “Building the safety coach program has also been essential by having frontline staff involved in habit formation and giving staff a voice to express safety concerns or ideas for improvement.

Additionally, USA Health instituted a serious safety event review committee to furnish objective tools for reviewing cases involving patient harm. Pomrenke highlighted the significance of sharing lessons gleaned from these incidents.

“Sharing lessons learned from these cases allows us to learn from other peoples’ stories. We remember the stories, not the statistics,” Pomrenke said. “Reading about what happened to someone else can allow us to say, ‘That could have been me. If I am ever in a similar situation, I can use that information to help guide me through, creating a positive outcome.’”

Among the esteemed recipients of the award alongside USA Health are Catholic Health, ECU Health, Sharp Healthcare, Texas Health Resources, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Novant Health and Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

Press Ganey, a distinguished healthcare consulting firm serving over 41,000 clients globally, awarded this accolade upon USA Health in recognition of its commitment to advancing safety standards within the healthcare landscape.