This Special Edition of the Urgent Matters E-Newsletter will highlight the Final Meeting of the Urgent Matters Learning Network II and the Urgent Matters Policy Forum: Creating a Framework for Transparent and Accountable Emergency Departments in America, which took place on April 29-30 2010, in Washington DC.
Urgent Matters
Urgent Matters, a national initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is dedicated to finding, developing and delivering strategies to improve patient flow and reduce emergency department (ED) crowding. Urgent Matters Learning Network II was managed by the Center for Health Care Quality at George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health and Health Services and in collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), an affiliate of the American Hospital Association.
Urgent Matters highlights patient flow best practices through its educational activities including: e-newsletters, web seminars, and conferences. Read More >>
Urgent Matters Learning Network II
Urgent Matters Learning Network II (LNII) was a 6 hospital initiative that consists of two distinct but interdependent “components”: the first component is comprised of six hospitals charged with identifying and implementing strategies to improve their respective EDs. Under the second component, the same six hospitals collected and reported on seven standardized performance measures. Three of the seven performance measures have been endorsed by the National Quality Forum as sound benchmarks of care. The data gathered from LNII hospitals will be used as a field test of performance measures and will inevitably inform quality reporting by hospitals in the future.
Goals of Urgent Matters Learning Network II:
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Rigorously evaluate the implementation of strategies for improving patient flow and reducing ED crowding within the context of a hospital collaborative;
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Advance the development of performance measurement in the ED; and
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Promote the spread of promising practices to a wider audience and variety of hospitals.
Urgent Matters Policy Forum: Creating a Framework for Transparent and Accountable Emergency Departments in America, served as the final meeting of the Urgent Matters Learning Network II Collaborative. The meeting took place over two days in Washington DC.
Focus on the Hospitals
Day one of the Urgent Matters Policy Forum: Creating a Framework for Transparent and Accountable Emergency Departments in America was attended by representatives from Learning Network II hospitals, including senior administration, and Urgent Matters staff, including participants from the RWJF, AHRQ, and HRET.
Arthur Kellermann, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.E.P., Senior Principal Researcher, Paul O’Neill-Alcoa Chair in Policy Analysis, RAND Corporation, opened the meeting with a Keynote address entitled, Building Transparency and Accountability in America’s Emergency Departments. Kellermann’s speech highlighted the critical role that emergency departments play in the health of the nation and the invaluable community service that they provide
Watch Arthur Kellermann's Keynote Address: Building Transparency and Accountability in America's Emergency Departments (Scroll to page 2 of 2)
The majority of the meeting focused on the LNII hospitals and the strategies and processes implemented as a part of Urgent Matters. Each of the six LNII hospitals gave presentations in which they shared the results, outcomes, and lessons learned from participation in the project.
Urgent Matters Policy Forum
On the second day of the meeting we were joined by industry leaders, policy planners and well-known leaders in the field of emergency medicine who participated in a discussion about our efforts in the larger context of health reform and the future of emergency department care.
John Lumpkin, M.D., M.P.H, Senior Vice President and Director of the Health Care Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, opened the meeting with a Keynote address entitled, Building Better
Policy through Practice. Lumpkin’s address explored the many changes in the role and functions of the emergency department over time, highlighted the importance of examining and measuring health care quality, and emphasized the link between public reporting, transparency, and policy.
This event provided Urgent Matters Learning Network II participants with the opportunity to share their experiences and achievements in improving flow and reducing crowding on a national level. This interactive discussion was led by Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs, the nation's leading journal of health policy, and an award-winning, on-air analyst on health issues with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The program was broken into four sessions. Each session presented a different topic and began with a short presentation by Urgent Matters staff.
