2002 Annual Report - Yale-New Haven Hospital

In selecting a hospital, the issues of quality and safety are important — and also difficult to determine.YNHH also has special quality improvement programs not foundin most hospitals. One is called Six Sigma, a partnership with GeneralElectric Medical Systems, to evaluate the use of a statistically-basedperformance improvement technique used successfully by Fortune500 companies. Another is the Center for Outcomes Research andEvaluation (CORE), which measures, improves and reports performancein the care of hospitalized and ambulatory patients. CORE coordinatesYNHH’s participation in state and national benchmarkingactivities for several medical diagnoses.Choose a hospital that is committed to the quality and safety of care…that meets national quality and safety standards;is accredited by the Joint Commission onAccreditation of Healthcare Organizations;∑is recognized by state, consumer or other groups;has good overall treatment results (complicationrates, mortality rates, success rates) with experienceand good outcomes with your condition;and offers programs and services to measurequality of care, improve patient safety and reducemedical errors.Your health is your most important possession. Your hopes and dreams, the loves of your life, your work and play, and yourvery future all depend on your health. You can not control everything that affects the status of your health — but you cantake an active role. You can make intelligent choices and decisions. You can seek the information you need. And you can picka health care partner who can be a powerful ally in the pursuit of health — Yale-New Haven Hospital.13