Chesapeake Regional Healthcare Selected as a 2021 Health Quality Innovator of The Year

CHESAPEAKE, Va. – Chesapeake Regional Healthcare has been recognized as a 2021 Health Quality Innovator of the Year. The Health Quality Innovator Awards is an annual program by Health Quality Innovators, an organization that recognizes and celebrates organizations that are using successful, evidence-based approaches to quality improvement.  

Chesapeake Regional was selected as a runner up in the Collaboration category for The Tidewater Collaborative, a multi-hospital collective aimed at reducing high emergency department (ED) utilization by shared patients in southeastern Virginia. This award category recognizes the efforts of organizations committed to bringing others together to solve health care challenges and improve care in the communities they serve.

Hospital representatives participating in the Collaborative identified high ED utilization patients and increased their use of Care Insights, which are notations about a patient’s critical medical/behavioral issues, social determinants of health and any pertinent care history. From January 2018 through March of 2021, the Collaborative created 2,275 care insights. In the same amount of time, ED visit rates decreased 14% per month in the region and more than 380 visits were avoided. 

“We’re incredibly proud of The Tidewater Collaborative for being recognized as a Health Quality Innovator of the Year,” said Amber Egyud, DNP, RN, NE-BC, Chief Operating & Chief Nursing Officer. “This is truly a collaborative effort among an incredible team of people working to improve the health of this community.” 

With a Chesapeake Regional Medical Center representative as chair, The Tidewater Collaborative consists of staff members from Bon Secours, Riverside and Sentara who meet regularly to focus on the shared opportunity to reduce high ED utilization. Patients and families were reviewed by hospital teams on an individual basis and interviewed, as necessary, by staff to identify true causes for multiple hospital visits. 

The Tidewater Collaborative was established after all health systems began using the emergency medical record technology for the state’s legislatively mandated ED Care Coordination Program. The electronic alerts were implemented in hospitals throughout Virginia. 

Best practices for reducing ED utilization among multi-visit patients continue to be shared among the members and they volunteer to share their lessons learned across the state by presenting during statewide program meetings and events.

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About Chesapeake Regional Healthcare
Chesapeake Regional Healthcare is a health system laser focused on innovation, known for making medical history in the region and providing patients with truly personal care. It’s hospital, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, is the only independent, community-based hospital in Hampton Roads. With a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the best heart attack survival rates of the major systems in the region, and a nationally accredited Chest Pain Center, Chesapeake Regional’s cardiac program is expanding. The system has a state-of-the-art neurointerventional suite, comprehensive cancer care, the most preferred Labor & Delivery program in the area, nearly 40 practice locations and approximately 600 physicians on staff. Chesapeake Regional Healthcare’s innovative, technologically advanced health care saves lives every day. Learn more at InnovativeforLife.com.

About HQI
Health Quality Innovators (HQI) is an independent, non-profit consulting organization that offers health care providers practical solutions backed by objectivity and expertise. They consult on complex government healthcare programs, implement change on the front lines of care and shine new light on improvement challenges. HQI serves as the Health Quality Innovation Network (HQIN), bringing together organizations and individuals who are making health care better for millions of Americans through funding provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Quality Improvement.