Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Implementing a Comprehensive Fall Prevention Program

Falls prevention continues to be a focus on all patient units and is a priority for safe care throughout the organization. The fall prevention program ensures that patients at risk for a fall have all necessary interventions in place throughout their stay in the hospital to mitigate risk for injury. The cost of a patient fall is approximately $6,000 per case and it is estimated that each hospital fall resulting in injury adds at least $15,000 to the cost of the patient care. Fall and fall-related injuries increase length of stay and non-reimbursed patient care costs related to injuries such as X-rays, CT scans, surgeries and other treatments. Patients are put at the center of care through the new fall prevention program with specific fall interventions by targeting individualized risk factors and implementing a falls individualized plan of care. Fall prevention promotes health and well-being, enhances the patient experience and decreases overall hospital costs. The implementation of the fall prevention program has resulted in a 76 percent reduction in patient falls with injury over the last four quarters from 0.86 to 0.21 falls with injury per patient days.

This case study is part of the Illinois Hospital Association's annual quality awards. Each year, IHA recognizes and celebrates the achievements of Illinois hospitals in continually improving and transforming health care in the state.  These hospitals are improving health by striving to achieve the Triple Aim--improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction); improving the health of populations; and reducing the per capita cost of health care.

Award recipients achieve measurable and meaningful progress in providing care that is:

• Safe
• Timely
• Effective
• Efficient
• Equitable
• Patient-centered

(The Institute of Medicine's six aims for improvement.)