IRVING, TX - Sixteen hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania are connecting electronically to focus on improving care for patients in intensive care units.  

The hospitals have joined a Rapid Adoption Network (RAN), a virtual network that allows them to share information in order to accelerate the pace of clinical improvement to less than one year.

The RAN is sponsored by VHA Inc., a national healthcare alliance based in Irving, Texas. A unifying focal point for the RAN will be the clinical blueprint VHA has developed to help its members improve performance in ICUs. The network will focus on helping hospitals prevent or lower the incidence of blood stream infections, catheter-related infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia in the ICU.

 “The ICU RAN pro-ject provides us with an opportunity to network and collaborate with clinicians in neighboring hospitals to improve processes of care and thus optimize ICU patient outcomes,” said Dianne Lanham, patient safety and quality officer at The Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pa.

“VHA’s clinical improvement platform focuses on helping members become leading performers,” said Trent Haywood, MD, a lawyer and chief medical officer at VHA. “Our programs and services will help guide members towards success and improve clinical care across the country.”

“Hospitals across the state are under significant pressure from both federal and state insurance programs and private insurers to improve quality, and participation in this effort will help these hospitals meet that mandate,” said Mark Tino, RN, vice president of performance improvement at VHA’s East Coast office in Trevose, Pa.