WVU Medicine Potomac Valley Hospital has signed an agreement to participate in the Eastern Quality Improvement Initiative, sponsored by the West Virginia Hospital Association and the Hospital Association of New York State, which was awarded the Healthcare Quality Improvement Contract from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
PVH is constantly seeking out evidence-based practice that will lead toward greater levels of performance improvement. With a consistent focus on patient safety, and quality of care improvement, the hospital’s efforts led to being recognized by both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) and the West Virginia Hospital Association (WVHA). PVH has been recognized by CMS as a five-star rated facility, which is a distinction that it shares with Garrett Regional Medical Center as the only hospitals in the region around Western Maryland that are rated this highly by the Federal Government.
In addition, PVH has recently been awarded the status of Gold Honor through the WVHA 2020 Commitment to Excellence Honors Program. This program serves as a way for hospitals to be recognized for their outstanding commitment to quality service. Specifically, the Honors Program aims to reward hospitals exhibiting successful quality improvement activities, including plans to improve the health of West Virginians, and education regarding standards of care that have been proven to enhance patient outcomes.
Moving forward, the contract with the Eastern Quality Improvement Initiative will allow PVH to join a collaborative of other hospitals around the country to share information and best practices that will focus on reducing hospital readmissions, reducing utilization of opioids in the community, improve safety in the hospital setting, and develop innovative ways to address social and health disparities for patients.
Over the course of this year, one of the great performance improvement initiatives at PVH has reduced the time from arrival at the Emergency Room to getting to a room down to four minutes. The average time from arrival at the Emergency Department to seeing a doctor is under fifteen minutes. The hospital also has a superb track record for having zero catheter associated urinary tract infections, zero central line infections, and one of the lowest incidence rate of surgical site infections in the region.
President and CEO, Mark Boucot states, “The community deserves to have a healthcare system that is second to none. Like Garrett Regional Medical Center, Potomac Valley hospital is a leading hospital facility in the region assuring that the care delivered is consistently high quality and focused on safety. Our medical staff, nursing staff, allied health professionals and front-line staff are highly engaged in providing safe, effective and efficient care.”
At the beginning of the year, Potomac Valley Hospital, along with the rest of the hospitals within the WVU Medicine Health System, launched a new quality and safety campaign called Mountain ZERO. This campaign focuses on “zero harm,” - an effort to reduce and eliminate adverse outcomes, patient harm or injuries, as well as preventable issues like hospital-acquired infections, blood clots, medication errors, pressure injuries, and falls resulting in injuries. To date, PVH has a superb record and leads the health system, having a near perfect record of performance.
To help reinforce Mountain Zero initiative, Potomac Valley Hospital is also participating in a new collaborative called Eastern Quality Improvement Collaborative (EQIC). Through this initiative, Potomac Valley Hospital will concentrate on three main goals established by the Hospital Quality Improvement Collaborative (HQIC) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These goals of the collaborative are to address issues that are common in rural areas and frequently seen by critical access hospitals: improving behavioral health outcomes, preventing readmissions, and increasing patient safety.
“PVH is an innovative hospital that is always seeking out new and innovative ways to improve quality and safety,” says Megan Sherwood, Quality leader for Potomac Valley Hospital. “PVH is a leading facility that implements innovations that lead to better outcomes. The hospital was one of the first hospitals in the WVU Medicine family of hospitals to implement Virtual ICU, where surgical intensivists from Ruby Memorial are engaged with our local physicians to care for patients in the ICU. The new patient safety collaborative is another example for our hospital leading the healthcare industry toward quality and safety for our patients.”
Potomac Valley Hospital is a 25-bed critical access hospital in Keyser, West Virginia. The hospital serves the community of Mineral County, West Virginia and surrounding areas. PVH officially became a member of the West Virginia University Health System in 2014. PVH provides inpatient and outpatient care, including 24/7 Emergency Department services. PVH employs more than 250 healthcare professionals, including over 50 physicians, who are dedicated to our mission of striving to treat every patient like a member of our own family.