Allegiance Health Earns 2008 Premier Award for Quality
July 7, 2008
Jackson, Mich. — Allegiance Health today announced it has been recognized by the Premier Healthcare Alliance as a winner of the Premier Award for Quality (AFQ). Allegiance Health is one of 27 winners out of more than 3,800 eligible hospitals nationwide.
The AFQ recognizes leading healthcare organizations that efficiently provide outstanding patient care and consistently set the standard in clinical excellence nationwide. The AFQ measures top performers at the overall hospital level and is distinguished by its consideration of performance-based criteria, including clinical quality outcomes, resource utilization and clinical process indicators.
“We take tremendous pride in the quality of care we provide to our patients,” said Georgia Fojtasek, president & CEO of Allegiance Health. “This award recognizes our physicians and staff for their consistent focus on patient safety and use of best practice clinical care."
Allegiance Health officials accepted the award at the 2008 Premier Annual Breakthroughs Conference & Exhibition, which was held June 10-13 in Nashville, Tenn.
“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.”
All acute care inpatient facilities in the United States that submitted data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Hospital Compare project were considered for the AFQ. Using MedPar 2006 data, Quality and Efficiency Indexes were calculated for 62 disease groups and at the overall hospital level. 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). The efficiency index was generated using length of stay to proxy for resource utilization.
Acute care facilities attaining the top 1 percent designation are identified as having scores in the top 2 quintiles for process of care and in 10 out of 62 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.
Additional information about the AFQ and related methodology can be found www.premierinc.com.
About Allegiance Health
Formerly Foote Health System, Allegiance Health is a community-owned and locally-governed health system proudly entering its 10th decade of service to south central Michigan. The 411-bed system features a full range of inpatient and outpatient services, state-of-the-art surgery facilities, a 20-bed Heart Center, an outpatient surgery center for same-day procedures, a new hospice residence and recently renovated Emergency Department.
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.
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