BREWER — In an effort to keep patients safe, improve care and reduce costs, hospitals and medical caregivers joined together last week in a new voluntary program, “Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs.”

Dr. Susan Kearing, a member of the Franklin Memorial Hospital medical staff, was among four featured speakers who shared information about initiatives and practices that can improve health care and protect patient safety during the program kickoff held in Brewer last week, according to a news release.

FMH President Rebecca Ryder, who supports the partnership, attended and signed the pledge.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will provide up to $1 billion over the next 10 years to help participants in the program develop effective strategies to improve care and lower costs.

The HHS’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been reaching out across the country through this new initiative, which started near the end of April, Ryder said Monday.

Representatives from the CMS Boston Regional Office were there to kick off the program and bring hospitals and medical care providers together in a collective commitment to keeping patients safe, improving care and lowering costs, she said.

Safety issues such as preventing patient falls or readmission are some of the problems that will be focused on, with results shared among the partners. CMS is providing opportunities to seek grant funding to work on some of these initiatives, Ryder said.

One specific example: How do hospitals prevent patients from being readmitted within a 30-day window? It’s a complex and costly problem. Medical care providers will look at strategies to help a patient go home and have stable care that allows them to heal and prevent readmittance to the hospital, she explained.

Locally, FMH is in the lowest quartile of Maine hospitals for readmittance, so FMH may focus on another category of concern, Ryder said.

Safety issues include looking at things like what the hospital can do prevent falls. Patients are at greater risk for falling as they go through a rehab process.

“It’s a Catch-22. We want them to gain independence but not fall,” she said. “It’s a challenge for hospitals.”

According to national statistics, one of every three patients admitted to a hospital suffers from a medical error or other accident during that hospitalization. On any given day, one in 20 patients develops an infection related to hospital care.

“Many health care organizations are already engaged in efforts to improve quality and reduce costs, but are not sharing their resources or findings,” said Christie Hager, director of the HHS Regional Office in Boston. “This new partnership is intended to promote sharing and to increase transparency and accountability in the health care system.”

Looking forward, Ryder said the program will provide resources and tools to make the hospital staff’s job easier as they work on the issues.

It’s not all about Medicare patients, Ryder said.

During the Brewer kickoff, Kearing spoke on how FMH has used the zero defects methodology to prevent elective early term birth. The practice of elective deliveries of babies under 39 weeks of gestation has become accepted, at times for the convenience of doctors or patients, but studies show it is associated with high rates of newborn respiratory problems and other complications.

“By presenting scientific data and educating doctors and patients, our hospital has significantly reduced the rate of preterm deliveries,” Kearing said.

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