Randy Harmatz, M.B.A., Chief Quality Officer, UF Health, Sebastian Ferrero Office of Clinical Quality and Patient Safety

Each year in the fall, UF Health receives a “report card” that shows how we’re progressing on our journey to become a national leader in quality and patient safety. The report, called the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study (formerly University HealthSystem Consortium) provides us with valuable information about our performance and shows us how we compare with others academic health centers similar to us. We use this report to help direct our quality and patient safety efforts for the coming year.

The report includes measurement in six quality domains: mortality, safety, patient centeredness, efficiency, effectiveness and equity. It also provides an overall performance rating from one star (lowest performance) to five stars (top performance). Like last year, we received a three-star rating. While we scored better in many domains, our overall ranking did not change. We believe this is because the academic health centers we’re compared with are also improving.

As you may recall, on the basis of last year’s results, we launched the Efficiency, Effectiveness and Patient-Centeredness initiative to work on areas of opportunity. We have seen encouraging results from these 14 EEPC teams, and their work continues. In addition, we’re taking steps to address the areas of opportunity identified in this year’s result — one of which is infection prevention.

So what can you do to help? Please familiarize yourself with our UF Health Quality Goals — posted on the Bridge home page — and get involved with performance improvement initiatives in your area. Remember, quality is Job 1 at UF Health and you can make important contributions to improving our patients’ experience and moving us forward!

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our patients.