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INTENSIVE CARE UNITS AT U.VA. RECEIVE HIGH MARKS FROM NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

The University of Virginia Health System has been selected as one of the top three hospitals in the national Phase II Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Benchmarking Project, conducted by the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC). The UHC project, which involved 41 academic medical centers throughout the country, focused on two intensive care populations: low-acuity patients or those patients who are not as acutely ill, and long-term patients.

The purpose of the benchmarking project was to identify the most effective practice of inpatient intensive care in teaching hospitals. According to UHC, the selection of the top performers was based on the key measures identified as being most indicative of performance -- mortality rate, hospital length of stay and cost per case.

This study highlights the fact that care of the critically ill patient at the University of Virginia is amongst the nation's best, and is delivered efficiently as well as effectively, said Dr. Jonathon Truwit, associate professor of internal medicine and director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at U.Va.

In addition to U.Va., the University of North Carolina (UNC) and University Hospitals of Cleveland were selected as top performers. For both groups of ICU patients, U.Va., UNC and University Hospitals of Cleveland all measured in the top quartile based on data from 1998-1999. U.Va.'s length of stay was in the top ten percent for both groups and cost for low-acuity patients was also in the top ten percent.

Representatives from UHC, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University visited U.Va. on Tuesday, April 4, to learn more about how the Health System was able to achieve such high levels of performance, Truwit said.

The University HealthSystem consortium is a member-driven alliance of the clinical enterprises of academic health centers (AHCs). Its mission is to advance knowledge, foster collaboration and promote change to help members compete inter respective health care markets.

April 7, 2000