IMPROVING OUTCOMES

42% Reduction in Readmission Rate in Medical Patients

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

$3 Million Annual Savings with Earlier Palliative Care Intervention

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

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

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.

Journal of Hosp medicine

Closing the Gap on Diagnostic Disparities

An estimated 800,000 patients each year experience serious harm because of a delayed, missed or incorrect diagnosis, many of which disproportionately affect patients of marginalized populations. IHQSE Faculty Dr. Katie Raffel, along with fellow diagnostic error experts, penned a perspective piece in the Journal of Hospital Medicine aimed creating a framework for understanding and evaluating inequity within hospital-based diagnosis and describing key strategies for beginning the work to achieve equity within diagnosis.
Journal of Hosp medicine

Disagree to Agree

IHQSE faculty member, Dr. Katie Raffel, along with colleague Dr. Josué Zapata, published a Leadership and Professional Development piece in Journal of Hospital Medicine, "Strategies to disagree productively: Persuasive DISNT". As providers, we often have experiences and insights that can improve how decisions are made within healthcare organizations. In expressing these perspectives, we may need to disagree. However, dissent is not always well-received. They discuss the need to: Determine value, Illustrate commitment, Show logic, Negotiate partnerships and Transform success into future impact in order to have the most success in disagreeing.
American College of Surgeons

Eliminating Error in Central Line Scheduling and Placement Using Quality Improvement Methods

After observing a low but consistent rate of incorrect surgical line placement for pediatric cancer patients, IHQSE graduate Dr. Jonathan Roach and team implemented a new multi-factorial process to schedule and place surgical central lines. The intervention reduced the rate of incorrect line placement and near miss events to zero! IHQSE Faculty Dr. Tyler Anstett and Dr. Michael Tchou are coauthors of this publication in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Pediatrics Journal

Clinical Pathways Programs in Children’s Hospitals

Clinical pathways translate best evidence into the local context through a structured multidisciplinary care plan. However, little is known about clinical pathway programs especially in pediatric settings. This study sought to determine the prevalence of clinical pathway programs in pediatric hospitals and describe similarities and differences. The team, led by IHQSE graduate, Dr. Leigh Anne Bakel, surveyed 81 of 111 Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) network hospitals regarding the existence of a clinical pathway program, number, type, creation or revision of clinical pathways as well as other pathway program characteristics. More than half of respondents confirmed that clinical pathways were in place; however, nearly half of those programs were hindered by limited funding and an inability to measure pathway outcomes or improvements in care.
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Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency (IHQSE)

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IHQSE@cuanschutz.edu

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