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Quality Initiatives

The Hospital Medicine Safety (HMS) Consortium is dedicated to improving patient care through collaborative, data-driven quality initiatives.

Improvement for Hospitalized Patients

HMS is designed to build the capacity to evaluate and improve the care of a broad group of patients not generally targeted in other consortia: the hospitalized medical patient (adult patients not admitted for surgery, obstetric care, psychiatric care, etc.).  The Consortium’s goal is to improve the quality of care for hospitalized medical patients who are at risk for adverse events and aims to do this via the following:

  • Consortium building – create a network of hospitals across the state working together
  • Tool and process refinement – develop a way to collect clinical data that can be used to support the work of the collaborative
  • Evaluate and understand current practice – use the data to assess how clinical care is being delivered for hospitalized medical patients across the state
  • Implement improvement strategies and evaluate change over time – support the quality improvement work at the member hospitals as they strive to achieve performance goals

  • Current

    Antimicrobial Use Initiative

    The aim of the antimicrobial use initiative is to formally measure and improve the appropriate use of antibiotics including selection of the right antibiotic for the right clinical condition for the right duration.

  • Current

    Critical Care Initiative

    The aim of the Critical Care Initiative is to formally measure and improve care processes for patients with critical illness.

  • Current

    Sepsis Initiative

    The HMS Sepsis Initiative aims to reduce sepsis-related mortality and long-term morbidity through audit and feedback, education, best practice implementation, and a comprehensive registry tracking outcomes from initial presentation to 60 days post-discharge.

  • Retired

    PICC Initiative

    The aim of the Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) and Midline initiative is to formally assess appropriate uses of PICCs/Midlines, identify factors associated with complications, and improve the safety of hospitalized medical patients by eliminating unnecessary PICC use and preventing complications.

  • Retired

    Midline Initiative

    Launched in 2017 and retired in 2025, the HMS Midline Use Initiative aimed to assess midline catheter utilization and associated complications across member hospitals, addressing a gap in data as midlines were increasingly used as PICC alternatives.