Orthopedic & Joint Replacement

Continuous Quality Improvement

Our total joint replacement team knows that each patient’s care plan and recovery pace are unique. Everyone learns and heals differently and we work hard to continuously improve our program – by listening to our patients. We offer a variety of tools to help you better understand your care so you feel prepared and ready for each step. There are online videos, handbooks and a “live -in person” class on our hospital campuses that provides a forum to learn more about our program. This 60-80-minute course is led by members of our care team and is supplemented with a variety of online tools that will help you prepare for your surgery and recovery.

To help us continuously improve patient care at Piedmont Healthcare, we constantly assess our program efficiency and patient care outcomes.  Below are a few of the metrics that we closely track and why they matter to patients, family, caregivers and all members of each patient’s care team.  

Length of Stay

Length of Stay is the number of nights that you stay in the hospital. The patient’s length of stay is based on many variables, including:

• Nature of the condition
• Efficiency of care
• Speed of the individual’s recovery
• Necessary post-operative care plan (rehab vs. home health)
• Physician’s recommended treatment

At Piedmont Healthcare, our customized joint replacement aftercare programs are focused on activities of daily living and ambulation or your ability to begin to walk after surgery. To be effective in this process we employ an evidence based, effective pain management program and a proactive approach of getting patients moving as soon as possible – called “early ambulation”. This program is carefully monitored by experienced physical therapists and nurses. 

A shortened length of stay is one good indicator that the hospital and physician teams are delivering efficient care with limited surgical complications. Piedmont Healthcare currently has an average length of stay that is less than the Medicare Benchmark of about 3 days.  That means nearly 70% of all of our patients go home after two nights or less in the hospital! While we strive to make your experience in the hospital comfortable and enjoyable, we also know that the majority of your recovery for this procedure will be at home. Our goal is to provide a smooth transition that allows you to get back to the comfort of your familiar surroundings.

Readmission Rate

A hospital readmission is defined as patient admission to a hospital within 30 days after being discharged from an earlier hospital stay. The standard benchmark used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the 30-day readmission rate. This readmission rate is calculated as an “all cause” readmission. This means that hospital readmissions can be associated with post-operative complications related to the total joint procedure or any other unrelated cause such as general medical conditions that require in-patient treatment, post-operative problems and other reasons.

To limit your risk for hospital readmission, our standard process is to help you develop a care plan that optimizes your readiness for surgery and coordinates home preparation, hospital care and post-operative care - whether at home or in a skilled nursing or post-acute care facility. We want you to do well so we will keep you in the hospital as long as you need and partner with you in creating a home environment in which you can be successful. Our goal is to develop a care plan that will get you efficiently through your surgery and keep you well while on your road to full recovery.

HCAHPS

Following your hospital stay, you may receive a survey in the mail. The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey contains 21 questions that focus on the patient perspective of care.  The survey covers nine key topics:

• Communication with doctors
• Communication with nurses
• Responsiveness of hospital staff
• Pain management
• Communication about medicines
• Discharge information
• Cleanliness of the hospital environment
• Quietness of the hospital environment
• Transition of care

We hope you will complete and return the survey.  We value your feedback and it helps us continuously improve and identify opportunities to make the patient experience better. Our goal is to make your stay as safe, comfortable and short as possible.

A hospital with better HCAHPS scores is interpreted as a center where patients would generally prefer to receive their care. We pay close attention to this as an indication of how we are doing at both preparing you prior to your surgery, managing your comfort levels after your surgery and providing you with an exceptional patient experience.