Healthcare, like many other industries, has its own unique nomenclature. As healthcare is also evolving quickly, we often hear new abbreviations and terminology they we are unfamiliar with. One "new" abbreviation is "HEN", which stands for "Hospital Engagement Network". A HEN is a collaborative of hospitals that work together to improve quality and patient safety. An effort by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to improve the safety, reliability and cost effectiveness of healthcare called Partnership for Patients (PFP) employs 26 HENs to focus on:

• Adverse Drug Events
• Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections
• Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections
• Injuries from Falls and Immobility
• Obstetrical Adverse Events
• Pressure Ulcers
• Surgical Site Infections
• Venous Thromboembolism
• Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia
• Readmissions

MUSC's "HEN" is the University Health Consortium (UHC), which has the ambitious goal to reduce all of these hospital acquired conditions by 40%, and readmissions by 20%, by the end of 2013.

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