• ACE in the News

     
     
     
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    10/01/2013

    Lessons from David & Goliath: Promoting Quality Care in Community Hospitals - Lawrence General Hospital advances quality processes with Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE)

    Issue Number: Volume 21 - Issue 10 - October 2013

    Proper perspective: visibility & options

    What would you do if you found yourself to be David in the Goliathian world of Healthcare? If you were Lawrence General Hospital, Lawrence, Massachusetts, you would look to innovative and quality initiatives to hold your ground on the slippery slope of accountable care. As the first hospital in New England to achieve ACE accreditation, not only does Lawrence General Hospital hold distinction amongst its peers, but this hospital is also the first nationally to voluntarily validate and offer transparency of quality processes within a community hospital setting. Lawrence General Hospital performs diagnostic cardiac cath, ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) cases, and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures without on-site surgery. “It’s the reality of the low-margin hospital environment,” said Kathy Caredeo, RN, BSN, MM, Director of Cardiovascular Services at Lawrence General Hospital. “With revenue declines and increasing costs, you position yourself to be the best to capture revenue streams.” 

    Adjacent to nationally-recognized hospitals and research centers in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, “Lawrence General wanted to show that patients can get quality care right at home,” said Sharon Coram, RN, Operations Manager, Cardiac Cath Lab. With Massachusetts fully engaged in the accountable care environment and these healthcare processes currently being adopted on the federal level, public reporting scrutiny is undeniable: medical facilities are closely monitored with substantial oversight to best practice adherence. 

    “The outstanding healthcare options available in eastern Massachusetts afford New England a highly educated patient base that expects excellent care,” said Seth Bilazarian, MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI, FASNC, RPVI, Medical Director at Lawrence General Hospital. “We wanted to validate that patients can get quality care in the community and to use available means to show that the lower cost of local care does not jeopardize quality outcomes, that, in fact, the community hospital is a high value validation.” And being the first hospital in New England to achieve ACE accreditation “indicates a spirit of commitment to quality that is pervasive amongst the nursing, physician and technical staff at Lawrence General,” said Dr. Bilazarian. “This is a valuable message to the greater community.”