IMPROVING OUTCOMES

42% Reduction in Readmission Rate in Medical Patients

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

Reduced no-show rate from 37% to 16% amongst high-risk patients living with HIV.

CREATING THE SCIENCE

Handshake Stewardship Program becomes National Standard for Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs

The Joint Commission

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

48% Reduction in 1-year Mortality in Hip Fracture Patients

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

$2 Million Annual Reduction in Antibiotic Costs

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

$3 Million Annual Savings with Earlier Palliative Care Intervention

The mission of the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety & Efficiency is to transform through discovery, improvement, and spread, the people and processes that serve our patients.

Transformation, Not Just Education

At IHQSE our overarching goal is to fundamentally improve the care provided to patients by developing people, improving care processes and building higher-achieving organizations. 



In other words, our goal is to transform:

to transform

INDIVIDUALS

We develop the capacity of frontline clinicians to drive change.

to transform

PROCESSES

We drive improvements in clinical care processes, leading to better outcomes.

to transform

ORGANIZATIONS

 We help build higher-performing systems through sustained changes.



Results that Matter

Our formula for transformation combines expert training, intensive, tailored coaching, a deep catalog of successful projects to tap into, and a relentless drive for outcomes.

500+ qi/ps projects completed
$200 million in reduced inefficiencies
200K patients impacted
150+ Graduates in Quality or Health System Leadership Positions
2 to 5 improvement in CMS star rating

*IHQSE supported improvement at the University of Colorado Hospital


IHQSE Newsroom


For over a decade, our dedicated faculty have built an integrated set of programs aimed at developing programmatic leaders in quality, creating high-quality, safe and efficient clinical care processes and, ultimately, driving profound organization-level improvements.  Here are just a few of our recent successes. 

For more, please see our
newsroom.

American Journal of Medicine

First, Do No Harm. Second, Measure It.

A recent editorial penned by Madeline Higgins, MD and IHQSE director Jeff Glasheen, MD and IHQSE faculty member Sarah Tevis, MD explores the challenges with current patient safety data. Despite advances in medical care, patient safety remains a critical area of focus within healthcare given that many patients continue to experience harm. While patient safety has gradually improved over time, progress is limited by outdated data models that prevent measurement of the true burden of harm, and therefore reduces our ability to understand ongoing drivers and develop innovative solutions to improving patient safety. The authors call for a change in how we measure and track data related to patient safety.
The journal for thoracic and cardiovascular surgery

Perioperative Hypothermia in Robotic-Assisted Thoracic Surgery

Two IHQSE grantees, Drs. Christina Stuart and Robert Meguid, recently published findings of a retrospective cohort study evaluating the incidence and consequences of incidental perioperative hypothermia exposure in the thoracic surgery population. They found that more than 90% of patients undergoing robotic-assisted thoracic surgery lung resections experience some degree of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia and that patients that developed hypothermia had associated increased rates of 30-day morbidity and infectious complications. Based on these data, Drs. Stuart and Meguid were awarded an IHQSE Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety grant to study structured and interval-specific interventions aimed at decreasing rates of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia and subsequent complications. This interventional study concluded in June of 2024 and the results are being analyzed.
AHRQ Logo

IHQSE Faculty Members Address Connection Between Cognitive Load and Diagnostic Errors

Diagnostic error may result in serious harm for more than 500,000 patients and contribute to an estimated 10% of all patient deaths. Understanding diagnostic accuracy is crucial for improving patient outcomes and ensuring effective healthcare delivery. IHQSE Faculty, Drs. Michelle Knees and Katie Raffel, along with colleagues from the University of Colorado Division of Hospital Medicine, recently published an AHRQ Issue Brief aimed at furthering efforts to enhance diagnostic accuracy. The brief reviews a substantial body of literature on the impact of cognitive load on diagnostic accuracy, identifies areas for future research, and provides recommendations for integrating existing knowledge into current practice.
The Hospitalist Logo

Demystifying Performance Measures for Hospitalists: HCAHPS

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is used to compare performance on patient experience metrics across hospitals, but its impact on patient outcomes as well as its utility as an incentive metric for providers remains unclear. In this article for the Hospitalist, members of the Society of Hospital Medicine Performance Reporting and Measurement Committee, including IHQSE faculty member Anunta Virapongse, MD, MPH discuss the pros and cons of using HCAHPS as a metric for measuring performance in hospitalist programs.
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Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency (IHQSE)

CU Anschutz

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12401 E. 17th Avenue

Mail Stop L963

Aurora, CO 80045


IHQSE@cuanschutz.edu

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