5 Million Lives Campaign Overview 

Over 40,000 incidents of medical harm occur in the United States every day, making medical errors the fifth leading cause of death nationwide, according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). To help implement and strengthen systems and safeguards that prevent such problems as hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, surgical errors, pressure ulcers and other medical complications, IHI has launched the national 5 Million Lives Campaign to prevent five million incidents of harm over two years. To date, more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide have voluntarily enlisted to participate in the campaign.

In Colorado, the statewide campaign is being supported by The Colorado Trust, a grantmaking foundation dedicated to advance the health and well-being of the people of Colorado. The Colorado 5 Million Lives Campaign follows on the successful Colorado 100k Lives Campaign, helping hospitals across the state to further strengthen their quality improvement systems, ensuring safe patient care.

Forty-six of Colorado’s acute care hospitals have been awarded grants averaging $40,000 over an 18-month period to participate in the Colorado 5 Million Lives Campaign. Additionally, $5,000 grants from The Trust are available to the remaining 29 acute care hospitals to participate in the campaign’s educational programs and technical assistance trainings.

The campaign helps hospitals to adopt up to 12 interventions to improve care, including rapid response at the first sign of patient decline, making certain that patients receive the right medications at every transfer point in care, adherence to best practices known to prevent heart attacks and ventilator-associated pneumonia, reduction of infections and drug-resistant staph, reduction of bed sores and incorporating hospital leadership into patient safety efforts.

Participating hospitals are receiving further assistance with implementing these interventions from the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care (CFMC). Specifically, CFMC – a leading state health care quality improvement organization – is receiving support from The Trust to share knowledge among the hospitals and provide technical assistance support to the hospitals. As components of this technical assistance, the Colorado Rural Health Center is working with participating hospitals to address rural patient safety issues and SE2 is helping hospitals to develop communications that support the spread and sustainability of interventions among staff and patients. Additionally, The Trust supports the Colorado Hospital Association to work with participating hospitals’ CEOs and boards, and provide related professional development and leadership training.

Click here to learn more about The Colorado Trust's support of quality improvement efforts, including a statewide patient safety partnership and the Work, Education and Lifelong Learning Simulation (WELLS) Center's development of simulation scenarios to help health care providers learn how to provide safe care in various medical situations.

  

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