Kern Medical and Kaiser Permanente Reveal Grant Results

Community Benefit Grant from Kaiser Permanente Used for Patient Safety in Sepsis Management

Bakersfield, Calif. Aug. 15, 2016 – Kern Medical and Kaiser Permanente today announced initial results from the generous Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region Community Benefit Quality Improvement Grant that Kern Medical received to enhance patient safety and appropriately reduce costs. The $300,000 grant for improving care for sepsis, CLABSI (central line-associated blood stream infection) and VTE (venous thromboembolism, the formation of blood clots in a vein), supported Kern Medical in improving life-saving care. Sepsis-related death rates decreased nearly 10 percent since the program’s inception and Kern Medical has seen over $1.8 million in savings.

“The grant awarded from Kaiser Permanente is essential in improving procedures and best practices in sepsis management at Kern Medical,” said Russell Judd, CEO of Kern Medical. “Because of the generous donation, we’ve been able to decrease antibiotic use and save on costs, all while benefiting our community in a lasting way.”

Kern Medical’s unique approach focused on building a multidisciplinary team anchored by a physician and a pharmacist with special training in infectious diseases. Another key element was devising an effective Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP).

In addition to decreasing the sepsis mortality rate by nearly 10 percent, the new approach resulted in improving CLABSI management from 5.2 instances per 1,000 patient days to zero. CLABSI is a bloodstream infection that sometimes occurs when a tube is inserted into a patient’s vein.

Kern Medical has decreased inappropriate antibiotic use by 10 percent, with a 37 percent decrease in one of the classes of superpowerful drugs. Finally, the VTE program dramatically enhanced patient education, increased predischarge monitoring and decreased readmissions.

“As part of our mission to improve our community’s health, we awarded this grant to help improve health outcomes for our neighbors.  We are delighted by the results Kern Medical achieved with our investment,” said David Womack, Senior Vice President and Area Manager for Kaiser Permanente in Kern County.

Kaiser Permanente’s donation allowed the ASP to achieve its own major successes. Data are now available through tracking the use of antibiotics and mitigating inappropriate over-prescriptions. Kern Medical care teams are now better equipped to serve patients, with firmly established expertise in all improved sepsis, CLABSI and VTE procedures and protocols.

About Kern Medical
Kern Medical provides Kern County’s only trauma center and offers all members of the community access to basic and specialty care through a network of clinics and physicians.  It is the area’s only academic training hospital and is affiliated with the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.  In addition to its main campus, it operates outpatient clinics on Columbus Street, Truxtun Avenue, and Stockdale Highway for nearly 120,000 patients each year.

About Kaiser Permanente Southern California
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 4.2 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information follow us on twitter; @KPSCALNews or go to: http://share.kp.org/scal.