Your Resource for HQIC Highlights and Learning Opportunities | Sept. 2021
September Is
Sepsis Awareness Month
Sepsis is not an infection. Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection.1 

Sepsis is an expensive medical emergency that does not stop at discharge. It is one of the costliest inpatient hospital conditions with an annual hospital cost at $23.6 billion.2 Every hour delay in tailored antibiotics (targeting the most likely pathogen) equates to a 7.6% increased likelihood of mortality.3 Survivors often suffer from cognitive dysfunction, functional disabilities, experience symptoms of depression and/or anxiety, and/or PTSD.4,5 Anyone can become infected, but risk factors include the very old, the very young, immunocompromised people, hospitalized patients, and those with liver or kidney disease.6 

The 10th Annual World Sepsis Day (WSD) is September 13. Visit the Global Sepsis Alliance webpage for inspiration and ideas on hosting a WSD recognition event.
The Flash: Resources
It Figures—Data and Performance
HSAG HQIC hospitals are struggling with sepsis measures overall. Reach out to your Quality Advisor if you are interested in a sepsis consult or one-on-one coaching.

You can view your facility's sepsis data in the HSAG HQIC Secure Data Portal by selecting the “Measure Category” of Readmit—Mortality and HAI—Sepsis.
*HAI = Hospital Associated Infection
Critical Communication
Safety assessments now include comparison data. Visit the the HSAG HQIC Secure Data Portal and select the Reports tab to download your data.
Events and Education
HSAG HQIC Quality and Safety Series
The Quality and Safety Series is designed to assist your organization in its quality improvement (QI) journey, from planning and preparation to sustaining gains.

Offered on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, these 30-minute-or-less "quickinars" are bite-size learning presentations that review the key skills necessary for you to function in the QI role or for other staff members who are participating in a QI initiative. The quickinars are intended as a basic foundation for the novice or as a skills refresher for the expert.
Quality and Safety Series 5: Rapid-Cycle Improvement
Tuesday, September 14, 2021, 2–2:30 p.m. ET
Quality and Safety Series 6: SMART* Goals
Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 2–2:30 p.m. ET

*specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound
Opioid Stewardship:
Helping Providers Do the Right Thing
Wednesday, September 29, 2021, 2–3 p.m. ET
This webinar will focus on the development of a health system-wide opioid stewardship program.

Learning Objectives
  • Discuss opioid-related guidelines.
  • Describe how metrics can be developed based on guidelines.
  • Implement clinical decision-support tools to assist providers.
  • Illustrate examples of educating outlier opioid prescribers.

Audience
Chief medical officers, pharmacists and pharmacy directors, chief quality officers and directors, directors of nursing and nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners

Presenter: Scott G. Weiner, MD, MPH
Dr. Weiner is an emergency medicine attending physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He earned his MD from the University of California, Irvine, and his masters in public health from Harvard School of Public Health.

Continuing Education (CE): Health Services Advisory Group, Inc., is the CE provider for this event. Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 16578, for 1 contact hour. There is no charge to attend this event. You must attend the live event to earn CE credit.
World Patient Safety Day
September 17, 2021
Join the Patient Safety Movement Foundation for the 2nd annual #uniteforsafecare campaign, designed to bring global awareness to the lack of safety in healthcare that the pandemic brought to light. Considering the huge burden of avoidable harm occurring to women and babies in the United States and around the world during childbirth, the topic of maternal and newborn safety has been designated by the World Health Organization as the theme for this year’s event.
References
1 Singer, et al. (2016). The Third International Consensus Definition for Sepsis and Septic Shock. JAMA, 801-810. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2492881
2 Torio et al. (2013). National Inpatient Hospital Costs. HCUP Statistical Brief #204. https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/27359025
3 Kumar et al. (2006). Crit Care Med, 1589-96. Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock. https://journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/Abstract/2006/06000/Duration_of_hypotension_before_initiation_of.1.aspx
4 Iwashyna, (2010). Long-term cognitive impairment and functional disability among survivors of severe sepsis. JAMA, 1787-94. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20978258
5 Iwashyna, (2012). Population burden of long-term survivorship after severe sepsis in older Americans. J Am Ger Soc, 1070-7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22642542
This material was prepared by Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), a Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of CMS or HHS, and any reference to a specific product or entity herein does not constitute endorsement of that product or entity by CMS or HHS. Publication No. XS-HQIC-XT-09022021-01