Patient Safety and Communication Case Studies

Hawai‘i Pacific Health was named a 2019 HIMSS Davies Enterprise Award recipient for leveraging the value of health information and technology to improve outcomes. The three case studies below cover patient safety workflow enhancements, virtual communication solutions and reducing length of stay.

Case Studies

1. I-Pass Nurse Handoffs

Hawai‘i Pacific Health recognized that communication amongst nurses at shift change in the neonatal intensive care unit was a patient safety improvement opportunity for the high volume, high acuity unit. In order to address this, they aimed to apply high reliability techniques and leverage EHR-based tools to bring the evidence-based I-PASS handoff structure to nursing handoffs. To learn more, listen to the use case video below or download the use case presentation.

2. Putting the IT in CapITation

Hawai‘i Pacific Health recognized there were a variety of opportunities to ensure its growing patient population received quality care in a timely fashion and was challenged by a limited supply of physicians and a changing health care environment to do so. To combat these challenges, cross-functional teams worked together to implement virtual e-visits and other patient communication tools.

3. Decreasing Case-Mix Adjusted Average Length of Stay

Hawai‘i Pacific Health recognized that safely decreasing length of stay was a means to increase service capacity while reducing internal costs. In order to address this, Hawai‘i Pacific Health set a system level goal to reduce case-mix adjusted average length of stay (CMI-adjusted ALOS) by a half-day over a period of five years.