THE VALUED VOICE

Wisconsin has a solid history of collaboration among three key organizations: the Division of Public Health (DPH); Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA); and MetaStar, which represents Wisconsin in the Lake Superior Quality Improvement Network, and is tasked with helping hospitals reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). DPH maintains robust surveillance processes to measure and track infections and potential outbreaks. WHA and MetaStar work with hospitals to decrease infection rates through the implementation of best practices. The three organizations are very focused on coordinating their work to avoid duplicating services and ensuring that all hospitals with high infection rates are getting assistance with their improvement work. 

In January 2016, this highly collaborative partnership was recognized by the Health Research and Education Trust (HRET) with a contract, funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to serve as a national model for reducing infections. Wisconsin is one of only five states that includes Michigan, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Arizona to receive this contract. All five organizations will work with HRET and the CDC over the next 18 months to reduce hospital-acquired infections and develop learning content for other states to replicate so they, too, can reduce their infection rates. 

“WHA is proud of the relationship we have with DPH and MetaStar, and we were pleased to receive this contract. Our goal is to not only continue our work on reducing hospital-acquired infections, but also help other states develop similar relationships,” said Kelly Court, WHA chief quality officer. 

The initial focus of the group will be Clostridium difficile infections. The rate of Clostridium difficile infections is the only nationally-reported infection that is increasing instead of decreasing. Wisconsin hospitals with higher infection rates will be invited to a statewide in-person learning event to review best practices and develop action plans for reducing their infection rates. Hospitals that attend the learning events will also receive individual coaching from WHA and MetaStar staff to enable successful implementation of the action plans developed during the learning event. Hospital recruitment to attend the learning event will begin this month. 

“We are confident Wisconsin hospitals that are recruited for this work will enroll in the learning event and work with us to develop and implement very successful plans,” said Court.