Quality

Quality is on the national agenda. A major commitment of the support activities within the Northwest Kansas Health Alliance focuses on the development of stronger quality programs for the member hospitals. Quality is about connecting with our patients and communities in two major ways. The first priority focuses on meeting their healthcare needs. As Critical Access Hospitals, the majority of the hospitals within the network do not provide critical care services. A significant number of patients are transferred out to Hays Medical Center and other larger hospitals. Important to the quality programs within the hospitals is a comfort level that transfers are occurring appropriately. Another priority is that patients who remain at member hospitals for care receive high quality services and that the hospitals provide for necessary follow-up care when the patient is ready to “Come Back Home”.

The second major activity focuses on making sure that the patients' healthcare experience are good ones. As consumers, our patient are much more informed and have much higher expectations. If the hospitals within the Northwest Kansas Health Alliance are to retain current patients and attract new ones, there must be strong relationships between the providers and the patients.

As part of its quality initiatives, the Alliance has received a three year grant from the Office of Rural Health Policy to develop and trial tools, techniques and programs that can help small rural hospitals have much strong performance improvement programs. This grant project focuses on areas such as patient satisfaction, quality improvement, risk management, utilization review, infection control and patient safety. By making these programs in our hospitals as strong as they can be, Alliance members have the opportunity to strength patient care delivery systems and promote stronger relationships with their patients and communities.