Kelly Hayes
Bayfront Health St. Petersburg has announced a range of quality improvements over the six months of operation under Orlando Health ownership.
These gains, reflected in the time since the ownership change on Oct. 1, include a 16.4% reduction in hospital acquired infections, as well as a 5.3% improvement in patient safety, according to the hospital system.
“As soon as we took over operations, we conducted listening tours as part of our full assessment of health care quality and identified several areas that we felt needed immediate attention,” John Moore, President of Bayfront Health St. Pete, said in a news release. “We have learned from our most important resource, team members and physicians, on how to improve. With their guidance, we have worked with our clinical teams, coordinated and strengthened processes and enhanced the workplace environment — all of which have an impact on patient care.”
Since taking over hospital operations, the facility has also reported a 10% improvement in physician communication, a 4% improvement in nurse communications and a 6% improvement in responsiveness. And, willingness to recommend the hospital has increased by at least 5%.
According to the hospital, during its first six months of operation, the system focused on transitions of care from the hospital to the community, which impacts patient readmission rates. Team members also saw enhanced pay, benefits and staffing.
“We are pleased with these early results,” Moore said in a news release. “We know our quality improvements won’t be fully reflected in national hospital quality measurement services for several years, but we will continue to work as quickly and as thoroughly as possible to improve quality for patients, the hospital and the community.”
Due to the lag in capture and reporting by national hospital rating services, such as CMS Care Compare and The Leapfrog Group, Bayfront Health will not be completely free of previous owners’ data until at least 2023, and in some cases 2026, according to the hospital.
“As we outlined in our February 4th presentation to the St. Petersburg City Council, we are committed to addressing the problems we identified upon assuming ownership of the hospital and restoring it to its rightful place as the region’s trusted health care facility,” Moore said.
