Best Practices for Hospital Patient Safety Now Available Via the Internet.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BW HealthWire)--March 20, 2001

The MEDSTAT Group, a Thomson company, announced today the release of its Patient Safety Organizational Assessment Tool(TM), an Internet survey tool that provides hospitals with nearly 100 patient safety best practices extracted from the literature.

Hospitals use the survey to assess their organization's patient safety programs and compare their efforts to best practices and their peers. The tool is just one component of a suite of MEDSTAT products that provide healthcare organizations with a framework for thinking about patient safety and the information necessary to identify, prioritize, and improve patient safety efforts throughout the hospital.

"The importance of patient safety will only increase in years to come, particularly given the second Institute of Medicine report and the growing involvement of consumers in their own healthcare. We will continue to expand our product offering to meet this need," said Carol Diephuis, vice president at MEDSTAT. "This hospital survey provides our customers with recommendations for developing and improving their patient safety programs, all the way from the board of trustees to the patient's bedside including medication safety and patient involvement." The survey tool is being used by hospitals to evaluate practices designed to prevent costly errors and reduce risk management liability; comply with new Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' (JCAHO) patient safety standards; diagnose problem processes that contribute to errors; and develop consumer-oriented messages around patient safety successes.

Other MEDSTAT solutions for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety include a one- and two-day on-site professional evaluation and report and MEDSTAT Outcomes Analyst(R), a PC-based system used for hospital and physician performance evaluation. The on-site evaluations include expert review of hospital documents, interviews with key hospital leadership and patient care staff, direct observation, and chart reviews. The result is a confidential, written report comparing the hospital's programs to best practices and providing recommendations for improvement. MEDSTAT Outcomes Analyst provides hospitals with a reliable and precise means of measuring clinical, financial, and utilization outcomes such as lengths of stay, mortality, and complications of care.

The MEDSTAT Group (www.medstat.com) is a health information company that provides decision support systems, market intelligence, benchmark databases, and research for managing the purchase, administration, and delivery of health services and benefits. It serves more than 1,000 organizations including many of the nation's leading employers, providers, pharmaceutical companies, government organizations, and health plans and insurance companies. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., MEDSTAT has a 20-year track record of delivering results for customers through innovative products, superior customer service, and outstanding people. MEDSTAT is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a global e-information and solutions company in the business and professional marketplace with 2000 revenues of approximately US$6.0 billion. The company's common shares are listed on the Toronto and London stock exchanges (TSE:TOC).