Independence Blue Cross; the Health Care Improvement Foundation, a nonprofit health and safety organization; and health care leaders across the region met at an annual summit to celebrate the 10-year anniversary and key successes of the Partnership for Patient Care, a quality and patient safety collaborative led by southeastern Pennsylvania hospitals, with support from both organizations.

The PPC has been recognized as a national model thanks to projects it has initiated over the years, including:Implementing the Preventing Avoidable Episodes Project, aninitiative focused on strategiesto improve care transitions andreduce preventable hospitalreadmissions.Reducing central line associated bloodstream infections from 2008 to 2012 by 57.5 percent.Improving the safety of CT imaging by reducing exposure to unnecessary radiation.Offering hospitals recommended interventions aimed at addressing vulnerabilities and potential failures associated with wrong-site surgery. After 18 months, the occurrence of wrong-site surgeries at participating hospitals dropped 73 percent.Conducting a regional campaign called CARE 4 Us, aimed at increasing awareness of palliative care,identifying the standards to create high-quality, effective palliative care programs, and supporting the region's hospitals to become leaders in the palliative care movement.