Thursday, May 19, 2011
VHA Inc., a national healthcare network of not-for-profit health care organizations, recently presented Presbyterian Hospital with its 2011 VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence, honoring the hospital for exceeding national performance standards for clinical care and improving the patient experience.
"Receiving this award, which recognizes our clinical strength and dedication to patient satisfaction, would be impossible without the strong commitment to excellence our physicians, nurses and support staff demonstrate every day," said Mark Billings, president and CEO, Presbyterian Healthcare.
Presbyterian Hospital is among only 28 hospitals nationwide, and the one of only three hospitals in the Carolinas, recognized by VHA for achieving top performance in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ clinical core measures and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). The other hospitals, Forsyth Medical Center and Rowan Regional Medical Center, like Presbyterian, also are affiliated with Novant Health. This recognition is based on a comparison of 2008 and 2009 performance in the clinical core measures of acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care improvement. This is the second time Presbyterian Hospital has been granted the award. The award was presented at VHA’s Leadership Conference, held May 15-17 in San Diego.
In addition, this year Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville earned the VHA Gold Award for maintaining at least an 80 percent reduction in MRSA rates over a three-year period. Last year Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville was recognized with the 2009 Excellence in MRSA Reduction award for having zero MRSA infections.
By recognizing these award-winning institutions, VHA hopes that other hospitals and health systems will apply these leading practices to identify ways to improve patient care and drive clinical excellence within their own organizations. Presbyterian Healthcare/Novant is a member of VHA, Inc., which includes more than 1,350 not-for-profit hospitals and 30,000 non-acute healthcare organizations in the U.S. VHA provides supply chain management services and supports the formation of networks to help members improve clinical and economic performance.
