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31 Hospitals Receive Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award From TMF Health Quality Institute for Providing Quality Care

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 09:01 CDT

Thirty-one Texas hospitals will receive this year's Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award, presented by the TMF Health Quality Institute. The non-competitive program evaluates a hospital's performance improvement on specific national quality measures.

"Each quality measure that is implemented 100 percent of the time reflects people receiving the right care at the right time, every time," said William G. Gamel, MD, CEO of TMF Health Quality Institute and head of the award committee. "Clearly these high-performing hospitals understand this."

Hospitals receiving the award demonstrated exceptional quality improvement in caring for patients suffering from heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia or in preventing infections after surgery. These clinical areas have been designated as national health care priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

A ceremony at the Headliners Club in Austin on November 3, 2005, will honor the 31 hospitals. Of 203 entries, 25 Texas hospitals met the criteria of the highest award, the Award of Excellence, and another six received the Quality Improvement Achievement Award. A list of the honored hospitals is provided below. Award of Excellence Recipients ------------------------------ Bayside Community Hospital, Anahuac Medical Center of Arlington, Arlington Brackenridge Hospital, Austin Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital, Beaumont Harris Methodist HEB Hospital, Bedford Reagan Memorial Hospital, Big Lake Harris Methodist Walls Regional Hospital, Cleburne Cuero Community Hospital, Cuero Baylor Jack & Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital, Dallas Methodist Charlton Medical Center, Dallas Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine, Grapevine Harlingen Medical Center, Harlingen Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen Harris County Hospital District, Houston Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital, Houston Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, Houston Mother Frances Hospital Jacksonville, Jacksonville Llano Memorial Hospital, Llano Good Shepherd Medical Center, Longview McCamey County Hospital District, McCamey Harris Methodist Erath County Hospital, Stephenville Scott & White Memorial Hospital, Temple Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital, The Woodlands Citizens Medical Center, Victoria Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie, Waxahachie Quality Improvement Achievement Award Recipients ------------------------------------------------ Seton Northwest Hospital, Austin Northeast Medical Center, Bonham CHRISTUS St. Catherine Hospital, Katy Fisher County Hospital District, Rotan Parkview Hospital, Wheeler Presbyterian Hospital of Winnsboro, Winnsboro

"We're delighted to recognize the hard work and dedication these teams demonstrate," Dr. Gamel said. "We commend all 203 hospitals that participated in the program this year for their work in advancing the quality of health care in Texas."

TMF Health Quality Institute, the Medicare quality improvement organization for Texas, established the awards program in partnership with the Texas Hospital Association, Texas Medical Association, Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals and Texas Osteopathic Medical Association.

To qualify for an award, hospitals had to take a baseline measurement of their performance on the clinical measures in the first quarter of 2004. They then implemented process changes to improve their performance and remeasured a year later to see if they had maintained or improved their performance.

To earn the Award of Excellence, a hospital had to achieve or maintain performance of 90 to 100 percent on all national quality measures within one or more of the targeted clinical areas. To qualify for the Quality Improvement Achievement Award, a hospital had to score at least 70 percent on all national quality measures within one or more of the clinical areas. In addition, they had to improve a certain number of percentage points from their baseline measurement.

The quality measures--such as an initial antibiotic dose within four hours of admission for patients with pneumonia--are designed to ensure that hospitals provide care consistent with current medical guidelines. For more information on the award, see the TMF Health Quality Institute Web site at www.tmf.org/qualityaward.

TMF Health Quality Institute (TMF) is a private, non-profit organization focused on promoting quality health care in a variety of settings. TMF contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, to implement the national hospital quality initiative in Texas, which includes free training and technical assistance by quality improvement consultants. For more than two decades, TMF has worked closely with hospitals and other health care providers to improve the quality and delivery of health care in Texas. To learn more about services TMF offers, go to www.tmf.org.

For more information, contact Kevin Warren, vice president of quality improvement, at 512-329-6610 or kwarren@txqio.sdps.org.

Source: Business Wire

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