SAN DIEGO–Palomar Pomerado Health (PPH) and Palomar Medical Center (PMC) are the recipients of the Premier Award for Quality (AFQ) by the Premier healthcare alliance. PMC is one of 21 hospital winners and PPH is one of three health-care systems nationwide to achieve this award.
There were 3,788 hospitals and 346 health-care systems that were eligible to receive the AFQ. The award recognizes leading healthcare organizations that efficiently provide outstanding patient care and consistently set the standard in clinical excellence.
Hospitals do not apply for the award, but instead were identified as top performers in quality, efficiency and process of care among all acute facilities. All acute care inpatient facilities in the United States that submitted data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Hospital Compare project were considered for the AFQ.
“We are consistently pushing ourselves to set a high standard in clinical excellence nationwide,” said Michael H. Covert, president and CEO, PPH. “This award has been a system-wide effort from our physicians, nurses and administrative leaders to insure the communities we serve are receiving safe, high-quality, efficient and compassionate care.”
AFQ winners were selected using MedPar 2008 data, a Quality Index (calculation of outcomes for mortality, morbidity and complications) and Efficiency Index (calculation of the length of stay outcome, which proxies for resource utilization) were calculated for 60 disease groups for which a facility met the volume requirement, and additionally at the hospital level to include all patients.
“As a public health district, it is our goal at Palomar Pomerado Health to assure that every patient receives the highest level of quality, evidenced-based care,” said Opal Reinbold, chief quality officer, PPH. “We are so pleased to be selected for this award, as it serves as a validation that we are striving everyday to meet that goal.”
Quality was measured by the incidence of three adverse outcomes: mortality, morbidity and complications, which are combined into a single Quality Index using the preference weightings from the Corporate Hospital Rating Project (CHRP).
Acute care facilities attaining the top 1 percent designation are identified as both having scores in the top two quintiles for process of care, and in 10 of the 60 disease groups and at the overall hospital level for quality and efficiency. Additionally, hospitals had measures for quality and efficiency that were equal to or exceeded expected outcomes.
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals and 67,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation’s most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington.
Palomar Pomerado Health (PPH), California’s largest public health system is North County’s most comprehensive health-care delivery system, and is the only Magnet® Recognized public health system in the state. It is nationally recognized for clinical excellence in cardiac care, women’s services, cancer, orthopedics, trauma, rehabilitation and behavioral health services. As the largest employer in Inland North County, with more than 3,600 employees and 700 physicians, PPH was named by Modern Healthcare as one of the Top 100 places to work in the U.S. Facilities include Palomar Medical Center, Pomerado Hospital, Villa Pomerado, Palomar Continuing Care Center, the Jean McLaughlin Women’s Center, and PPH expresscare health centers. Palomar Medical Center West – hospital of the future, opening in 2012.
Visit www.pph.org for more information on our comprehensive services and facilities.
