AHA launches new Center for Health Innovation

AHA launches new Center for Health Innovation

The American Hospital Association (AHA) last month launched the AHA Center for Health Innovation to guide hospitals and health systems as they respond to the changes around them. The center’s work will focus on providing forward-looking market insights, novel partnerships, unique leadership development opportunities and enhanced capabilities to spread leading practices at scale.

Joint Commission issues inpatient suicide data

An estimated 49 to 65 hospital inpatient suicides occur each year in the United States, far fewer than the widely cited estimate of 1,500, according to a new study reported in The Joint Commission’s Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. Based on data from 27 states reporting to the National Violent Death Reporting System and hospitals reporting to The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event Database, the study estimates the annual inpatient suicide rate at 3.2 per 100,000 psychiatric admissions and 0.03 per 100,000 nonpsychiatric admissions. The commission said the findings support recommendations by its expert panel last year that hospital settings associated with psychiatric treatment be made ligature-resistant.

AHA and CDC co-publish guide to prevent infections

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published a new guide with team-based best practices, case studies and resources on preventing infections in the health care environment. The book, which can be used by facility managers, environmental services departments and others, covers infection-control risk assessments; hand-hygiene infrastructure; reprocessing; cleaning of environmental surfaces; water-related, environmental infection control; and flow of patients, personnel, equipment and waste. The AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust and the AHA’s American Society for Health Care Engineering helped to produce the guide as part of a three-year CDC initiative to improve infection prevention and control efforts in U.S. hospitals.

AHA supports FCC telehealth pilot program proposal

The American Hospital Association last month voiced support for a Federal Communications Commission proposal to create a $100 million pilot program to support telehealth for low-income Americans, calling the Connected Care Pilot Program “a critical next step toward delivering affordable telehealth services to those Americans who need it the most.”