Quality Improvement

Vanderbilt University has received a contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for up to $28 million over four years to help more than 4,000 clinicians in the Southeast transform their clinical practices in ways that improve quality of patient care and hold down costs. Read More

For colorectal surgery patients at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the introduction last summer of a new patient care protocol, which includes intensive follow-up by anesthesiologists in the hospital, has led to an average 25 percent reduction in hospital length of stay after surgery — from four days to three — and 90 percent reduction in the use of opioids to treat post-operative pain. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has been named to receive a White Coat of Quality Award from Surescripts that recognizes the institution’s e-prescription quality efforts. Read More

Implementation science is a new and growing field concerned with the transfer of research findings and medical evidence into routine health care. Read More

The Neurological Intensive Care Unit at Vanderbilt University Hospital has received the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence, one of the highest markers of nursing care. Read More

A message from the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Read More

Jenny Slayton, R.N., MSN, has been appointed to the newly created role of executive director of Quality Improvement for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read More

The Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE) is awarding Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center’s Department of Otolaryngology with its Commitment Award in the annual Excellence in Tennessee recognition program. Read More

Mimi Huizinga, M.D., MPH Mimi Huizinga, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Medicine, has been appointed to the newly created role of medical director for Vanderbilt Medical Group Adult Quality and Patient Safety, reporting to VMG Chief Medical Officer Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D. “I’m very pleased to… Read More

Having served since 2009 as Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s chief quality and safety officer, Julie Morath, MSN, is leaving to become senior vice president for the California Hospital Association, where she will have oversight for hospital and health system quality and safety strategy and alignment. She will also be appointed CEO of the new California Hospital Quality Institute. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is among nine recipients of the 2012 Achievement Award from the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE). Read More

This year’s Vanderbilt Quality and Patient Safety Pioneer Program is under way with a new set of teams ready to launch. Read More

Efforts to improve quality of care at Vanderbilt have expanded rapidly in recent years. Notable achievements such as the central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) reduction program — recently lauded for achieving infection levels significantly lower than the national average — have put Vanderbilt in the spotlight as a… Read More