The program assists physicians to identify patients who would benefit from treatment in compliance with professional guidelines and to help ensure that treatment. Led by Dr. Dani Hackner, experts in clinical quality improvement use information and other technology to identify those patients who may qualify for treatment, to confirm their eligibility, to notify clinicians caring for them and to work with their physicians to institute the treatment. Weekly collaborative meetings bring together experts from many departments at Cedars-Sinai, including the Department of Medicine, the Nursing Service, the Health Information Department, the Emergency Department, the performance improvement group and others to review cases and plan strategy.

Key participants in the program include Bojan Cercek, MD (Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and champion of the heart attack quality interventions); Jim Loftus, MD (Co-Director of the Emergency Department); and Mary Reidinger, RN, PhD (Clinical Coordinator for Core Measures). Others who assist the program include David Hardy, MD (Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases); Michael I. Lewis, MD (Director of the Respiratory Care Unit); Zab Mosenifar, MD (Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine); and Les Sampson, MSN, RN.

This effort of the Clinical Quality Measures Program identifies those patients who have suffered bone fractures attributable to osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) and coordinates treatment with their physicians to prevent future fractures. Champions of this effort include C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD and Sheila Bolour, MD of Women's Health Services at Cedars-Sinai, as well as William W. Brien, MD of Cedars-Sinai Orthopedic Center. Brigitte Failner, RN, Mary Reidinger, RN, PhD and Dani Hackner, MD coordinate the operation of this effort.

In addition to the fracture prevention effort, Cedars-Sinai faculty members and staff are undertaking additional efforts to improve still further the high level of quality of care. Topics for these efforts include intensive insulin therapy in the intensive care unit; treatment of agitation, sedation and delirium in the patient who requires ventilator therapy; and calculation of the "airway risk index" for patients in order to identify those at increased risk for breathing problems.