The Sullivan Group – Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Safety and Reduce Risk in the Emergency Department

Hospital Administrators face unique challenges within today’s healthcare system. Attention to patient safety and medical error reduction are critically important to maintain high quality care and avoid exposure to medical malpractice liability. TSG provides:

• Physician and nursing web-based risk and safety education
• Intelligent medical record tools
• Throughput analysis consistent with new JCAHO leadership standards
• Clinical performance evaluation
• Complete ED analysis and reporting
• EMTALA evaluation and education

The result is high quality patient care and a reduction in exposure to malpractice and EMTALA related liability.

The best resolution to these problems is an integrated approach to risk reduction. The Sullivan Group is proud to offer a system solution to help healthcare professionals tackle some of the most formidable issues they face in protecting their organization’s standards, reputation, and bottom line.

1. The Emergency Medicine Risk Initiative – TSG’s proven, 3-pronged approach to improved patient safety is a vanguard solution designed to improve provider performance, reduce risk and limit error-related malpractice suits. The program includes:

   Bedside Real-time Risk Tools: Risk management and patient safety must occur at the bedside. TSG has created medical record tools that assist the physician and nurse to provide safe risk-managed care real-time, during the patient encounter. TSG PowerDoc™ medical record templates for physicians and nurses provide methodical assistance during EM care, and checkpoints that assure every appropriate measure has been addressed. TSG PowerDoc™ creates reliable, high-quality electronic and paper documentation, allowing ongoing analysis of treatment, teamwork and system efficiency. This Bedside Tool is an immediate and intuitive solution. Click here for more information.
   
   TSG pioneered the implementation of risk and safety management in the electronic environment. TSG works with several electronic vendors to bring real-time risk management to the bedside in the electronic medical record (EMR).
   
   Education: TSG offers web-based safety and risk courses designed to teach your organization’s emergency physicians and nurses the essentials of patient safety and medical error reduction. There are currently more than 10,000 emergency practitioners using our CME and CE courses to update and extend their knowledge. There is an extraordinarily high level of satisfaction among practitioners taking ours courses.
   
   We also feature the TSG Nav® education and auditing tool, which allows your organization easy management of your practitioner training and assessment of its effectiveness. Click here for more information.
   
   The TSG Audit: This web-based clinical audit tool provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of physician and nursing clinical indicators, throughput, pain management, compliance with core measures, and many other aspects of emergency department care. High performers on the audit have demonstrated dramatic reductions in malpractice case rates. Low performers are a risk for your hospital. This tool is currently being used in more than 600 EDs nationwide, creating the largest emergency medicine safety and risk database in existence. Its primary focus is the most common high-risk diagnoses, which account for up to 80% of ED malpractice lawsuits.
   
   The TSG Audit’s online format enables results to be immediately available, constantly updated, and password-protected to ensure confidentiality. Results can be transferred to Excel spreadsheets for presentation or print records. This HIPAA-compliant tool promotes sustained improvement in clinical performance and emergency treatment documentation.

   Over 600 clients have used TSG’s programs to realize measurable improvements in performance. The system solution enhances practitioner performance, improves patient safety, reduces medical errors, and helps practitioners create defensible medical records.
   
   HCA is among TSG’s clients, and the VP of Risk and Insurance, James Hinton, credits TSG’s risk management services to HCA’s 38% reduction in emergency department related claims from 2001 to 2004. This reduction has translated into a significant increase in HCA’s bottom line over the last few years. That trend continues through 2005. Read a description of the HCA program as published in Business Insurance in April of 2005.
   
   Click to read the Business Insurance Article
   
   
2. EMTALA Analysis and Programs: Dr. Sullivan and other members of the TSG physician advisory group have dual degrees in medicine and law, and are nationally recognized EMTALA experts. TSG uses its vast experience with EMTALA to help hospitals across the country create programs to maintain continued compliance with EMTALA’s requirements and enable quick responses to alleged violations.
   
   Dr. Sullivan has designed web-based EMTALA courses for physicians, nurses, on-call physicians, and hospital administrators. These courses are consistently updated with new EMTALA related content and are often used as part of corrective action plans, or as hospital-wide programs for on-call physicians or administration.
   
   Dr. Sullivan and Dr. James Hubler can also provide on-site EMTALA education as part of hospital corrective actions or for general medical staff education.
   
   
3. Hospital Consultation: TSG can provide a comprehensive ED analysis, including patient arrival, waiting room issues, triage, patient flow and throughput, primary nursing care, physician clinical competence, ancillary service review, the admission process, basic departmental structure and function, and all other aspects of running a successful emergency department. Following the analysis TSG provides you with an action plan and implementation process. Our goal is implementation of a plan that will lead to long-term success.
   
   
4. Stroke Center Certification: TSG has joined forces with nationally renowned stroke expert Dr. Fred Callahan and now offers a ninety days to ‘ready’ acute stroke treatment program. The program is called New HOPE For Stroke. This program addresses the complete spectrum of quality stroke care including EMS education, ED preparedness for thrombolytic administration, in-patient management, CME and CE for physicians and nurses involved in stroke care, stroke indicator reporting, rehab, and prevention. This is a critical patient safety issue. Stroke treatment must be provided according to strict protocols. Deviations from protocol are common and result in patient injury and malpractice litigation. TSG continues to work with your organization at quarterly quality improvement meetings, continuing education, and reporting requirements. Click here for more information .

TSG founder, Dr. Daniel Sullivan, MD, JD, FACEP, is a board-certified emergency physician with more than 25 years of emergency medical experience. Dr. Sullivan’s education and experience as both a physician and attorney has made him an expert in patient safety and risk management. In his ongoing quest to improve healthcare and limit malpractice litigation, Dr. Sullivan assembled an outstanding team of medical, risk-reduction and IT professionals dedicated to perfecting a system solution to help prevent medical error and improve patient safety.

To contact us, click here.