Jun 12, 2020
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia selected United Hospital Center as a Blue Distinction Center for knee and hip replacement, part of a Blue Distinction Specialty Care program.
The goal for healthcare facilities is to deliver high-quality patient safety and better outcomes. Joining us for this week's House Call is Dr. Mark Povroznik; vice president of quality at UHC.
1). UHC recently earned Blue Distinction designation for delivering high-quality patient safety and better outcomes, explain for us what this means?
Blue Distinction is a Specialty Care Program by Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield West Virginia to designate hospitals who meet robust criteria for quality and cost effectiveness. UHC’s most recent distinction centers on Hip and Knee replacement surgery.
For UHC, it is evidence of the ongoing commitment of our Orthopedics team. They continue to deliver National Top performance and have thus achieved a seal of approval for both Quality and Cost effectiveness.
Nationally, Blue Distinction Centers demonstrate high-quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations.
These include important aspects of care like readmissions, complications, cost of care, efforts to reduce opioid use while controlling post-operative pain, and equally important Shared Decision Making with the patient that I will discuss during the internet question.
2). How does a designation like this benefit patients?
I’m glad you said that…”patients”. It is all about the patient. A designation is simply a visual acknowledgement for what the community cannot see that goes on behind the scenes. It is designed to help patients find quality care.
Knee and Hip replacement procedures remain some of the most commonly performed, elective surgical procedures in the U.S.
Blue Distinction Plus is an objective source for North Central West Virginia (NCWV) to use when seeking orthopedic care needs at The Bruce Carter United Orthopaedic and Spine Center and it ensures that the care you receive has been validated by a 3rd-party as both high quality and cost effective.
We have long since been the community hospital for the region…and are always excited to also be one who helps raise the bar. Beside us on this journey is a medical staff that is excited about making a difference.
3). From a numbers perspective, how does UHC rank nationally when it comes to Knee and Hip Replacement?
Probably the single measure that a patient is concerned about is complications following a hip or knee replacement that affects their recovery. An infection or blood clot are just a couple of examples. And no surgery is without risks. Orthopaedic complications are monitored by more than just Highmark BCBS, but also by CMS, the National Hospital Surveillance Network, and are a part of Value Based Purchasing that evolved from the Affordable Care Act.
With that being said, UHC’s risk standardized complication rate is 0.016. The top 10% of performing hospitals nationally is 0.022. These are just numbers, but they translate to a performance better than the top 10%, and pushing the top 1%.
This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.
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