At the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, we are keenly focused on the quality of care our teams provide all patients, comparing our work against other organizations nationally in a never-ending quest for improvement.
Part of that work focuses on patient “outcomes,” or the results of their care here. We track such information as patient survival rates, surgical results and quality measurements, comparing them with national statistics from Premier, the nation’s largest healthcare alliance.
Our cancer registry also submits data monthly to the National Cancer Database, where they are compiled into reports detailing our performance in 30 quality measures, then compared to other programs in the state and nation.
Notable quality-related achievements and efforts at the Cancer Institute include:
- Strengthening our membership in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance, which provides standards of care and reports that analyze our performance in comparison with its own. This emphasizes our strengths and helps us set priorities for improvement.
- Incorporating Dana-Farber Cancer Institute clinical pathways into our electronic medical records, allowing our providers to choose treatment based on Dana-Farber recommendations.
- Introducing iQueue technology to streamline infusion services.
- Earning accreditation from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as an Age-Friendly Health System for our Comprehensive Oncology and Aging Care Team, which tailors care to cancer patients over 65 years old.
- Performing better than the national average on surgical measures for breast and endometrial cancer.
- Earning an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Conquer Cancer Foundation grant for an initiative focused on minimizing discrepancies in care given to underserved populations, specifically minorities and those living in rural areas.
- Being Connecticut’s only healthcare system to earn an Integrated Network Cancer Program accreditation by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer. As a result, our system of hospitals shares a unified cancer committee, data repository system and a single standard of care across all locations and providers.
- Standardizing assessment and treatment for patients on chemotherapy presenting to the emergency department with fever. If, in assessment, it is determined they also have neutropenia (low white blood cell count), the time to treatment is critical. A recent project reduced this time significantly.
- Holding accreditations from the Commission on Cancer, National Quality Measures for Breast Centers, American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative, American College of Radiology for radiation oncology, Mammography Quality Safety Assessment and National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers.
- Evolving during the pandemic to ensure that patients needing care received it in a timely and safe fashion. This included the increased use of telemedicine and redesigning care plans.
- Improving collaboration and communication between patient, caregiver, oncology and hospice teams through quality/research study on further integrating telemedicine into hospice care.