Alabama Hospital Quality Initiative

Categories: Change Incentives to Promote Better Care

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama launched the Alabama Hospital Quality Initiative (AHQI) to reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and promote appropriate antibiotic use.  HAIs affect an estimated 90 million lives each year, or nearly six percent of admitted patients.  In collaboration with the Alabama Hospital Association and a key vendor, hospitals are able to identify potential real-time warning signs of an infection outbreak, track and quantify nosocomial infection trends, share best practices and evaluate the effectiveness of infection control interventions.  AHQI promotes nursing unit-level goal setting to reduce infections, defines and standardizes best practices statewide and enhances transparency through timely, electronically transmitted hospital data regarding different and specific sources of infection and corresponding strains' susceptibility to antibiotics.  The statewide initiative positively influences care from the hospital board to bedside nursing care.  Among the program's results:

• 100 percent of Alabama hospitals participate in AHQI.
• Since 2004, HAIs have fallen by 25-30 percent.
• Peer-to-peer hospital transparency, which promotes the dissemination of best practices, is an important element of this quality initiative.