Pneumonia Care

Care for pneumonia patients includes pretreatment tests, timely and appropriate antibiotic administration, smoking-cessation counseling for smokers and vaccination against pneumococcal pneumonia and flu.

Pneumonia Care Composite

What does this mean?

We measure the percent of patients eligible for each of the care elements who actually received the care element. The composite score is the average over 12 months. Our main challenge has been related to documenting timing of first antibiotic dose. Our goal is to achieve 100% compliance.

What are we doing to improve?

Through our system collaborative work groups, we have shared best practices. We have seen improvement in vaccine administration and smoking-cessation counseling with the implementation of electronic order entry. We anticipate improvement in documenting timing of antibiotic administration as we implement computerized order entry in our Emergency Departments.

Additional Information

Additional reports and data can be found on the CMS Hospital Compare site at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.