The Altamonte, Fla.-based not-for-profit, integrated health care system, Adventist Health System has joined the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Partnership for Patients program with the Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier healthcare alliance, a nationwideattempt at improving the performance of hospitals.  The Partnership for Patients will aim to reduce hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), and share the results with providers across the nation.

The program will offer support to physicians, nurses and other clinicians working to keep patients from getting injured or acquiring infections while in the hospital so they can heal without complications. Specifically, hospitals focus on reducing preventable harm, including preventable readmissions, by 20 percent and preventable HACs by 40 percent by the end of 2013. In doing so, CMS officials say this can lead to the saving of 60,000 lives, reduce millions of preventable injuries and complications, and save up to $35 million.

In addition, Adventist Health System hospitals have also joined Premier’s QUEST: High Performing Hospitals collaborative. This partnership is using a collaborative effort of providers to make data-driven, evidence-based decisions in care delivery. The goal is to improve the patient experience and avoid harm while reducing mortality, cost of care and readmissions.

"Both QUEST and the Partnership for Patients offer significant value and improvement strategies that align with national priorities, federal policies and future reimbursement, which increasingly will tie payment to performance," Adventist Health System President and CEO Donald L. Jernigan, Ph.D, said in a statement.