Partnership for Patients
Launched in April 2011, the Partnership for Patients is a nationwide public-private partnership that offers support to physicians, nurses and other clinicians working in and out of hospitals to make patient care safer and to support effective transitions of patients from hospitals to other settings. The Community-based Care Transitions Program tests models for improving care transitions in order to reduce hospital readmissions. Download the Partnership for Patients fact sheet.
Two Concrete and Measurable Goals
The Partnership is an important part of the Center's work to improve the quality of care available to CMS beneficiaries. Thousands of providers across the country have already joined the partnership. The two goals of this new partnership are to:
- Keep patients from getting injured or sicker. By the end of 2013, preventable hospital-acquired conditions would decrease by 40% compared to 2010.
- Help patients heal without complication. By the end of 2013, preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another would be decreased so that all hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20% compared to 2010.
Achieving the Partnership’s two goals has the potential to both save lives and costs for CMS programs. The combined efforts of this partnership have the potential to save 60,000 American lives and reduce millions of preventable injuries and complications in patient care over the next three years and has the potential to save as much as $35 billion, including up to $10 billion in Medicare savings.
Many stakeholders have already joined the Partnership for Patients in a shared effort to save thousands of lives, stop millions of injuries, and take important steps toward a more dependable and affordable health care system. Learn how to Join the Partnership for Patients.
The CMS Innovation Center investment in the Partnership for Patients
As one of the many ways the CMS Innovation Center is working to improve the health care system, the Innovation Center is investing up to $1 billion to two Partnership for Patients initiatives for improving patient care and patient engagement to reduce hospital-acquired conditions and improve care transitions. Those initiatives are the Hospital Engagement Networks and the Community-based Care Transitions Program.
The Community-based Care Transitions Program (CCTP)
Created by Section 3026 of the Affordable Care Act, the CCTP tests models for improving care transitions from the hospital to other settings and reducing readmissions for high-risk Medicare beneficiaries. Community-based organizations will use care transition services to effectively manage Medicare patients' transitions and improve their quality of care. Up to $500 million in total funding is available for 2011 through 2015. Learn more about the Community-based Care Transitions Program.
Hospital Engagement Networks
Hospitals across the country will have new resources and support to make health care safer and less costly by targeting and reducing the millions of preventable injuries and complications from healthcare acquired conditions. $218 million was awarded to 26 State, regional, national, or hospital system organizations to be Hospital Engagement Networks. As Hospital Engagement Networks, these organizations will help identify solutions already working to reduce healthcare acquired conditions, and work to spread them to other hospitals and health care providers.
The 26 Hospital Engagement Networks are:
American Hospital Association
Ascension Health
Carolinas HealthCare System
Catholic Healthcare West
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation
Georgia Hospital Association Research and Education Foundation
Healthcare Association of New York State
Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
Intermountain Healthcare
Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Joint Commission Resources, Inc.
Lifepoint Hospitals, Inc
Michigan Health & Hospital Association
Minnesota Hospital Association
National Public Health and Hospital Institute
New Jersey Hospital Association
Nevada Hospital Association
North Carolina Hospital Association
Ohio Children's Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety
Ohio Hospital Association
Premier
Tennessee Hospital Association
Texas Center for Quality & Patient Safety
UHC
VHA
Washington State Hospital Association
Hospital Engagement Networks will work to develop learning collaboratives for hospitals and provide a wide array of initiatives and activities to improve patient safety. They will be required to conduct intensive training programs to teach and support hospitals in making patient care safer, provide technical assistance to hospitals so that hospitals can achieve quality measurement goals, and establish and implement a system to track and monitor hospital progress in meeting quality improvement goals.
In addition to the Hospital Engagement Networks, $10 million has been awarded to three organizations to create a curriculum in patient safety, engage Medicare, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program beneficiaries, their families and caregivers and others in specific activities supporting the aims of the Partnership for Patients, and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the Partnership for Patients.