This community opinion was contributed by Deanna Starr Williams, MSN, RN, C-ONQS . The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues.
Dear community of Hollister and beloved co-workers at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital:
During the last Board of Directors meeting there was mention in the finance report of supplemental payments from QIP. The acronym was tossed around and I remember someone in the audience remarking about QIP and not understanding what it meant. There wasn’t a pause to explain in the moment. I’m not sure if the comment could even be heard at the board table so I wanted to share a little in this letter since there wasn’t a chance that evening.
QIP is a big deal!! It stands for Quality Incentive Program. This program provides an opportunity in which hospitals and clinics are able to work on performance improvement initiatives that increase the quality of care and improve outcomes for patients. When teams in these areas are successful in meeting the goals of the performance improvement projects focused on some of our most vulnerable patients, those who are in the MediCal program, the hospital or district receives a monetary award for each goal they achieve.
San Benito Health Care District achieved the award of over $3 million for successfully meeting several quality goals in the 7 clinics which were focused on providing health maintenance and preventative care services and for meeting two very important obstetric quality measures; reducing cesarean sections for first time moms and exclusive breastfeeding after delivery.
To the right is a list of all of the possible metrics that a health care system can strive to meet to receive awards through the QIP program.
This wasn’t just some free money that we came across to help us out in a pinch. Nurses, providers, techs, MA’s, lab and radiology professionals, data and quality staff all worked together purposefully to make that happen. Achieving the quality goals they set isn’t easy and it is something to celebrate and recognize. QIP doesn’t want to give up money easily, so they make the goals very stringent. For example, the national benchmark for the cesarean measure we participated in is 23.9%. The QIP goal for our MediCal patients is 22%. We achieved 16.2% (Hazel Hawkins actually has the 12th best scores for this metric in the whole state of California for 2022). By meeting these benchmarks, we made things safer for our patients and it was recognized and awarded. The benefit for MediCal in offering a program like this is that improvement in the quality of services also reduces the cost to provide care so they don’t have to spend as much up front if we have healthier patients.
Information like this is important to bring to the forefront because much, if not all of the focus during this crisis, has been on: public perception of senior leadership and the board, accusations about lack of transparency (sometimes right after detailed information is presented), attempting to assign blame, and criticism about how the team has responded under pressure. In the middle of the debate around this not particularly productive focus some very important things about the hospital are being completely ignored, namely the dedicated staff, the work that is being done to improve quality outcomes and make processes safer, the physicians, technicians, advanced practice providers, and the nurses who are providing compassionate and competent care at the bedside for their community. These folks are the heart of our hospital and the ones who really need and want our community to rally around and lift them up right now. It has been stressful watching this unfold and seem to become more and more unsolvable as no one budges to soften their stance to find a common ground when it’s obvious by the passionate exchanges that there is a common desire on all sides for the hospital to succeed. Please don’t let pride and stubbornness take our hospital out!!
I pray that as we move forward, everyone will pause to remember why we are fighting to continue to have a hospital in San Benito County. It is for our patients. Period. End of sentence.
When the focus is on the purpose, it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong. It doesn’t matter who thinks who is to blame. All that matters is that we need everyone’s support to ensure that there is someone here to keep emergency surgery possible, to avoid a maternity care desert that would cause harm to mothers and babies, to ensure that precious time isn’t lost fighting traffic for someone experiencing a stroke, or sepsis, or a heart attack if our emergency room has to close it’s doors, to worry about the families who will have to search statewide to find a skilled nursing facility that has room if we have to close the one close to their home, to think about our elderly citizens who definitely don’t want to travel to Gilroy or San Jose for a clinic visit when they need a medication refill. There is a lot at stake here!
Thank you so very much for taking the time to read if you have gotten this far.
With care and concern for all!
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