News & Updates
Resident QI Corner – Winter ’19
Managing discharge from Inpatient Heme/Onc Service The inpatient Hematology/Oncology team at BMC is a busy service full of patients with complex medical problems and diverse pathologies requiring intricate care plans. Thus, discharges from the Heme/Onc inpatient service are complicated and are often derailed by unforeseen variables. We sought to increase the safety and timeliness of discharges by implementing... More
Reducing Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
The CAUTI rate on the wards and ICUs for FY18 YTD was 25 infections with a goal of ZERO (FY17, there were 25 infections). Please only place indwelling urinary catheters for: Hourly urine output monitoring (only in the ICUs) Management of urinary retention, and Assistance in healing a stage 3 or... More
Reducing Clostridium Difficile Infections
One major component of preventable harm is hospital-acquired C. difficile infections. Due to the ongoing work of Deb Gregson and the QI team, we have made considerable progress. BMC is above goal with FY18 Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR) of 0.97 (goal ≤0.7). Key drivers for reducing C diff. are decreasing unnecessary... More
2018 BACO MassHealth PC Group Quality Bonus Program
Starting in 2018, MA Executive Office for Health and Human Services will generate a Quality Score for each ACO participating in the new MassHealth ACO program. This Quality Score will determine our ACOs share of any surplus or deficit accrued. The amount of surplus or deficit will be based on... More
BMC Quality Goals FY 19
1. 10% reduction in preventable harm events. The Preventable Harm Index includes 16 Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs), such as clostridium difficile infections, central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), and Patient Safety Indicators that are tied to external reputation and reimbursement. BMC is predicted to... More
BMC Physician Quality Leaders
In July 2016, BMC reorganized the Physician Quality Leaders, funding fewer quality leaders but giving each more responsibility and time to actually get things done. They report to Dr. James Moses, BMC Chief Quality Officer, and address patient safety events as well as promote hospital quality initiatives. They are also... More
Hem/Onc Section Partners with Bristol-Myers Squibb for Cancer Research
Street Insider publishes article "Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) Announces Research Collaboration with Boston Medical Center to Investigate Markers of Immuno-Oncology Response & Resistance" The hematology/oncology section at Boston Medical Center is partnering with Bristol-Meyers Squibb to investigate biomarkers in a variety of cancers to predict Immuno-Oncology I-O responses. "We look forward to partnering... More
Discovery of the Month: Dec 2018
"Retinoic Acid Signaling is Essential for Airway Smooth Muscle Homeostasis" Felicia Chen, Fengzhi Shao, Anne Hinds, Sean Yao, Sumati Ram-Mohan, Timothy A. Norman, Ramaswamy Krishnan, and Alan Fine Team led by Dr. Felicia Chen of the BU Pulmonary Center demonstrates that "Retinoic Acid signaling maintains airway smooth muscle homeostasis by preventing excessive activation of the TGF-β pathway. We conclude that tonic... More
Elevated Blood Pressure in People Under 40 Poses Hazard of Developing Cardiovascular Diseases Prematurely
High blood pressure or hypertension is a major health problem that affects more than 100 million people in the U.S. (using the current 130 systolic or 80 diastolic) and over one billion worldwide. Despite being considered a disease of older adults, there are two new studies in the Journal of the American Medical... More
American Thyroid Association Names Elizabeth Pearce, MD, BoD President
Professor of Medicine in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Elizabeth Pearce, MD, MSc, has been named president of the Board of Directors of the American Thyroid Association. Her one-year term began in October 2018 and has served as president-elect for the past year. Dr. Pearce received her undergraduate and... More