Horizon Health Receives Award for Sepsis Project

Horizon Health recently received the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network’s IMPACT Award for its Sepsis Improvement Project during a ceremony in Champaign.

Hospitals vying for the award submitted their innovative approaches for improving patient relationships, creating a new process flow or life-safety improvement, developing a creative way to motivate staff, or fostering a successful community project.

Important successes of Horizon Health’s Sepsis Improvement Project were better patient care, collaboration between departments, and physician leadership. Another success was improved sepsis “pass rates” for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ measure of quality care.

“Our leadership challenged us to achieve a month-by-month 100 percent sepsis pass rate,” said Dr. John Ventura, emergency department medical director at Horizon Health. “Our sepsis scores were 38 percent in 2019 and increased to 56 percent in 2020. Scores jumped to 90 percent in 2021, with most months at a 100 percent pass rate.”

Sepsis is the body's overwhelming and life-threatening response to infection. It often appears painlessly and quietly over days and requires close attention, making it extremely difficult to diagnose.

“This was a challenge that our team was willing to accept, but we knew it would have to be all hands on deck,” said Kali Martin, emergency department manager at Horizon Health. “The project’s success is not due to one person, but rather the dedicated leadership and staff willing to learn and better care for their patients.”

Watch a short video about the Sepsis Improvement Project here.