PRINCETON – Working hand in hand with the national Partnership for Patients (PfP) initiative, the New Jersey Hospital Association has launched a New Jersey PfP Web site with tools and resources to help patients and providers work together to improve healthcare.

The site, www.njha.com/pfp is part of a $7 million, two-year contract between the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and NJHA’s nonprofit affiliate the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey. NJHA is one of 26 healthcare organizations nationwide to work closely with the federal government as a “hospital engagement network” to lead statewide healthcare quality improvement efforts.

In addition to a wealth of clinical information to support hospitals’ quality improvement work, the N.J. Partnership for Patients Web site also features a section for patients and consumers who want to become more active partners with healthcare providers to improve the quality and safety of healthcare services. Downloadable brochures, most available in both English and Spanish, address issues such as preventing falls, protecting yourself against infection while hospitalized, preventing pressure ulcers and asking the right questions to protect yourself from medication errors.

“This new Web site truly reflects the broader national initiative; it is indeed a partnership of patients and providers to make our healthcare system better,” said Aline Holmes, RN, MSN, senior vice president of clinical affairs and director of NJHA’s Institute for Quality and Patient Safety. “That’s why our site includes not only clinical guidelines and best practices for healthcare providers, but also practical consumer-level information to help patients become more involved in their healthcare.”

Sixty-two New Jersey hospitals have joined with NJHA as part of the hospital engagement network. They are committing staff time and organizational resources to work with NJHA and nationally recognized experts to identify opportunities for improvement in their own facilities, adopt best practices and report data regularly to measure their results. Together, they are focused on the two national goals of Partnership for Patients:

• Keep patients from getting injured or sicker. By the end of 2013, the goal is to reduce healthcare-associated conditions by 40 percent compared with 2010. Achieving this goal would men about 1.8 million fewer injuries to patients, with more than 60,000 lives saved over the next three years.
  
  
• Help patients heal without complications. By the end of 2013, the goal is to achieve a 20 percent reduction in hospital readmissions caused by preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another, compared with 2010. Achieving this goal would mean more than 1.6 million patients could recover from illness without suffering a preventable complication requiring readmission to the hospital within 30 days of discharge.

“For our providers, this Web site is a valuable resource that will help them to continue improving quality of care and reducing the high cost of hospital readmissions,” said Dr. Firoozeh Vali, co-director of NJHA’s PfP program.