Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona once again receives Patient Safety and Quality Award from Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association

Tucson specialty hospital recognized for plan to reduce harm and pursue High Reliability.

TUCSON, Arizona (Nov. 1, 2024) – For the second year in a row, Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona has been named a recipient of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association’s Patient Safety and Quality Award.

Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona, a 34-bed long-term acute care hospital, was one of eight hospitals or health systems statewide to be honored recently during the AzHHA’s second annual Quality Awards. Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona received the 2024 Patient Safety and Quality Award in the critical access/small rural hospital classification for its submission, “Zero Harm: Our Journey to High Reliability,” which outlined new process improvements by the hospital to reduce falls, infections and other forms of inpatient harm while heightening the staff’s awareness of safety issues.

The AzHHA Quality Awards recognize Arizona’s leaders who are committed to advancing healthcare through exceptional quality performance, community engagement and a culture of continuous improvement.

Cornerstone Southeast Arizona’s winning submission outlined the hospital’s journey since September 2023 to pursue a goal of zero harm while striving to become a High Reliability Organization (HRO), which, as described in Cornerstone’s entry, is “an organization … in a complex, high-risk environment that consistently delivers exceptionally safe, high-quality service or care.”

Cornerstone Southeast Arizona has sought to promote a culture of safety through an emphasis on process improvements, including consistently encouraging staff to speak up and share ideas and concerns.

“‘First, do no harm,’ is the most fundamental principle for any healthcare organization, and this award from AzHHA is a testament to our hospital staff’s dedication to that principle and to keeping our patients’ safety top of mind in everything we do,” Cornerstone Southeast Arizona CEO Ritche Berdal said. “This journey of increasing awareness of patient safety, building a speak-up culture, and having a zero-harm attitude puts me at ease knowing that I can trust my team to be safe. Everyone on our staff has a major focus on safety, and it has been exciting to see how many suggestions have come in on ways we can keep getting better every day.”

“This award is a recognition of what we do to be the best in delivering high-quality care.”

In conjunction with the National Quality Strategy of Cornerstone’s parent company, ScionHealth, Cornerstone Southeast Arizona leaders received training on the fundamentals of HROs, then formed HRO committees that defined goals related to pursuing zero harm, and developed ways to educate and energize staff.

Key to its process improvements, Cornerstone Southeast Arizona emphasized daily safety huddles and a “Good Catch” program, in which staff were encouraged and praised for speaking up to share ideas or report potential safety concerns. Issues, ideas and causes for celebration were posted on a visual management board that was shared with staff.

Cornerstone leaders credit the new processes and HRO program for contributing to improvements in key clinical quality metrics over the past year. In September 2024, the hospital’s rate of falls per 1,000 patient bed-days was 3.8, compared with 19 in August 2023. In addition, in Fall 2024, Cornerstone’s rate of unplanned transfers out of the hospital to short-term acute care hospitals dropped to its lowest point ever - 7.18 percent.

“In beginning our journey to Zero Harm and High Reliability, we acknowledged that we can always improve and that pursuing continuous improvement is simply the right thing to do,” said Paula Allen, Director of Quality Management. “Thanks to a true team effort to create, develop and operationalize a plan, we have made great progress in improving patient safety and reducing harm in our hospital.

She added: “I’m so very proud of the leaders and the staff involved in our HRO journey, because they have all embraced it. They’re continually growing, learning and speaking up, and you can feel the culture changing. It’s inspiring to see the growth of our team, which leads to better care for our patients and better health for our community.”

The 2024 AzHHA award came a year after Cornerstone Southeast Arizona received the same honor for a plan focused on reducing unplanned transfer-outs.

“The quality of submissions and winners reflect the tremendous work that is happening in our communities across the state,” said Ann-Marie Alameddin, President and CEO of AzHHA. “Congratulations to our award winners who are working every day to pursue excellence in quality and patient safety.”

About Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona

Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona, located in Tucson, is a 34-bed long-term acute hospital that provides specialized care and rehabilitation to medically complex patients. Designed as a bridge in the continuum of care, patients who transition to Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona from a traditional hospital/short-term acute care hospital receive a customized treatment plan from a dedicated team. Located at 7220 E. Rosewood St., Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals Southeast Arizona is part of ScionHealth. More information: www.chghospitals.com/location-southeast-arizona