The Joint Commission and Kaiser Permanente announce winner of 2024 Bernard J. Tyson National Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity

Award honors Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center for closing disparity in readmission rate for Black/African American patients with heart failure

/EIN News/ -- OAKBROOK TERRACE, Illinois, Dec. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Joint Commission and Kaiser Permanente today announced Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) as the recipient of the 2024 Bernard J. Tyson National Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity. This prestigious award, established in honor of late Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO Bernard J. Tyson, honors a healthcare organization for its efforts that achieved a measurable, sustained reduction in one or more healthcare disparities.

The award recognizes ZSFG, a safety net hospital and San Francisco’s only Level 1 trauma center, for its achievements under the initiative Reducing Racial Disparities for African American Patients with Heart Failure. The improvement team’s efforts significantly improved care for all patients with heart failure at ZSFG.

Clinicians at ZSFG identified heart failure as a leading cause of hospitalization for Black/African American patients. Additionally, many heart failure patients who were readmitted also had co-occurring substance use disorders.

ZSFG implemented two primary interventions:

• To better manage care for patients with heart failure, ZSFG created an artificial intelligence-based decision support tool and integrated it into the electronic health record at the point of care to provide patient-specific recommendations about medical and social care needs. They also created artificial intelligence-enabled population health management tools to proactively identify and manage the highest-risk patients.
• To address social and behavioral health needs, ZSFG created an addiction medicine/cardiology co-management clinic, allowing clinicians in primary care, cardiology, social medicine, addiction medicine, and palliative care to collaborate in caring for patients with heart failure who had complex needs at highest risk of poor outcomes.

These efforts achieved impressive results that reduced healthcare disparities and improved outcomes for ZSFG’s patients with heart failure:

• Closed the 5.4% gap in the readmission rate between Black/African American patients with heart failure and the general heart failure population between 2018 (baseline) and 2022.
• Decreased the 30-day readmission rate for all patients with heart failure from 33% to 20%.

The Tyson Award selection panel commends ZSFG’s work, affirming its approach to addressing broad, system-level structural changes, educating staff, and reducing silos among specialists.

"Congratulations to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center for its exceptional efforts to identify and address healthcare disparities," said Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, president and chief executive officer, The Joint Commission and Joint Commission International. "Healthcare disparities remain a critical patient safety issue, and patients need the healthcare industry to prioritize them to build a world in which all people always experience the safest, highest quality and most equitable healthcare across all settings.”

“The Bernard J. Tyson National Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity honors the important work led by clinical teams at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center,” said Andrew Bindman, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Kaiser Permanente. “Lifting up and encouraging exemplary innovations that reduce inequities in systemic, measurable, and sustained ways is exactly what we set out to do by creating this award.”

“On behalf of the team at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, I am deeply honored to accept the 2024 Bernard J. Tyson National Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity,” Susan Ehrlich, MD, MPP, chief executive officer, ZSFG. “This recognition highlights how innovative teamwork by our clinicians and staff can effectively address the systemic healthcare inequities that impact our patients. By focusing on the needs of our Black/African American patients with heart failure, we not only reduced disparities but improved outcomes for all patients. This award inspires us to continue striving for equity in every aspect of care we deliver.”

To learn more about ZSFG’s achievement, the Tyson Award program, and other healthcare organizations focusing on healthcare equity, visit The Joint Commission's website.

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About The Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve healthcare for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating healthcare organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 23,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. Learn more at www.jointcommission.org.

 

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve nearly 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information, go to about.kp.org.

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• Logo for Bernard J. Tyson National Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity

Maureen Lyons
                    The Joint Commission
                    630-792-5171
                    press@jointcommission.org
                    
                    Allie Furey
                    Kaiser Permanente
                    510-292-8580  
                    Allie.x.furey@kp.org