Hospital wins "2008 Premier Award for Quality" based on data and "Avatar Exemplary Service Most Improved Loyalty and Endorsement 2007" based on patient surveys
Sacramento, CA, June 12, 2008 - Mercy General Hospital has been recognized as a leading healthcare organization that efficiently provides outstanding patient care and consistently sets the standard in clinical excellence nationwide with a 2008 Premier Award for Quality (AFQ) by the Premier Health Alliance. Mercy General is one of 27 winners out of more than 3,800 eligible hospitals nationwide.
Distinguished by its consideration of performance-based criteria, including clinical quality outcomes, resource utilization and clinical process indicators, the AFQ measures top performers at the overall hospital level. All acute care inpatient facilities in the U.S. that submitted data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Hospital Compare project were considered for the AFQ.
“The Award for Quality differentiates its winners as industry leaders by recognizing clinical excellence in both quality of care and operational efficiency,” said Stephanie Alexander, senior vice president of Premier Healthcare Informatics. “Premier is pleased to honor this elite group of hospitals for the high quality of patient care they offer to improve the health of their communities.”
The 2008 Premier Awards for Quality were announced June 11 at the 2008 Premier Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition, held this week in Nashville, Tenn.
The Premier Award for Quality is one of two recent awards honoring Mercy General Hospital’s high quality patient care. Mercy General has also been named a national award winner in healthcare service quality for Exemplary Service Most Improved Loyalty and Endorsement 2007 by Avatar International Inc., a leader in healthcare research and consulting.
The award is based on significant improvement on hospitals’ 2007 inpatient surveys for loyalty and endorsement compared to 2006. Avatar inpatient surveys at Mercy General Hospital found patients would return to the hospital and recommend Mercy General to friends and neighbors.
In making the announcement, Dr. Michael Everett, Avatar Founder and CEO said, “Mercy General Hospital is obviously taking very seriously the two key service outcomes of patient visits for Inpatients; (1) would patients recommend your medical center to friends and neighbors, and (2) would they return themselves if care is needed in the future. Your improvement efforts have resulted in patients significantly increasing their rating of Mercy General Hospital on these key outcomes, reflecting patients’ increased confidence in your staff and services. Congratulations for this significant accomplishment “
Patient satisfaction is a top priority at Mercy General Hospital,” said Denny Powell, President of Mercy General. “I’m proud of our excellent physicians, nurses and staff for providing compassionate, patient-centered care and I’m honored to accept these awards.”
“The Premier Award for Quality looked at performance based criteria to determine that Mercy General provides outstanding patient care and sets the standard for clinical excellence and the Avatar Award examined patient surveys to determine that we provide exemplary patient care,” said Page West, Chief Nurse Executive at Mercy General Hospital. “These awards reflect the excellent teamwork we have at Mercy General to give our patients the best care possible.”
About Mercy General Hospital
Mercy General Hospital has been serving the Sacramento community for more than 100 years. Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy General has been at its current site in the heart of East Sacramento since 1925. Mercy General Hospital has 342 licensed beds, a physician staff of more than 700 and delivers 2,600 babies annually. Mercy General performs over 1,000 cardiac surgical procedures per year, over 1,600 electrophysiology procedures per year, and over 4,000 cardiac catheterizations per year. Mercy General is one of six Sacramento area hospitals that are part of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), a system of 42 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona and Nevada and the nation's eighth largest healthcare system. In fiscal year 2007, CHW provided more that $922 million in charity care and unsponsored community benefit.
About Premier Inc., 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Serving more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 50,000 other healthcare sites, the Premier healthcare alliance and its members are transforming healthcare together. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates one of the leading healthcare purchasing networks and the nation's most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information. A subsidiary operates one of the nation's largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups. A world leader in helping healthcare providers deliver dramatic improvements in care, Premier is working with the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.
ABOUT AVATAR
Avatar definition: exemplar, standard of comparison
Avatar is the premier provider of hospital survey needs in the healthcare industry. Avatar began in 1981 as the Avatar Institute, a non-profit research and training institute. Avatar’s services initially focused on quality and performance improvement, learning organization, customer service, and vision alignment development. Several Avatar clients such as the Walt Disney World Company, Baptist Health Care in Pensacola, and the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company became widely known as industry leaders for their excellent customer focus.
Avatar has served healthcare nationally for over twenty-five years including small community hospitals, academic medical centers, large regional medical centers, integrated healthcare systems, long-term care and behavioral health organizations. Avatar provides the most accurate, comprehensive, customized, and actionable patient surveys in the industry. Avatar is the only survey vendor that constructs a unique survey for each and every patient to measure the precise care and services received.
Michael Everett Ph.D, CEO is the only patient survey expert ever appointed to the prestigious National Advisory Council of the Agency for healthcare Research & Quality. Dr. Everett assisted AHRQ during the development phase of HCAHPS.
Avatar International can be reached at 1-800-282-8274.
