Piedmont Columbus Regional earned a “Top Performer Award” at the Vizient Southern States Diabetes Management Collaborative of the Year celebration meeting in Atlanta. Ann Blair, DNP at Piedmont Columbus Regional, acted as subject matter expert for this collaborative and joined fellow employees Melonese Close and Heather Johnson to work closely with the clinical improvement leadership team of Vizient Southern States, to design and deliver content.
 
“We have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in the Diabetes Management Collaborative, and are very appreciative of Vizient Southern States and the leadership of Piedmont Columbus Regional for their commitment to quality and delivering patient-centered, evidenced-based care,” said Dr. Blair.
 
Over the past year, the diabetes management team, led by Dr. Blair, has sought to improve the continuum of care for patients with diabetes. Goals of the collaborative included reducing readmissions, average length of stay, emergency department revisits and insulin adverse drug events for Piedmont Columbus Regional’s diabetes population.
 
The increased focus on the utilization of evidence-based strategies and process improvement regarding diabetes management across the care continuum led to significant savings. Ten hospitals participated in the collaborative which generated a total of $8,052,138 including hospitals in north, south and middle Georgia. Piedmont Columbus Regional accounted for $7,161,247 of that total.
 
“Health systems must develop a culture that is patient-centered, effective and accountable with success achieved through an on-going commitment to research, education, process improvement and implementation of evidence-based practice,” said Dr. Blair.
 
Piedmont Columbus Regional is the only hospital within the Piedmont System to achieve full Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognition for its Diabetes Prevention program. For more information regarding the available educational resources or the Diabetes Prevention program please call 706.321.3741.