Memorial Medical Center has received the Texas Hospital Quality Improvement Gold, a quality improvement award from TMF® Health Quality Institute

Memorial Medical Center has received the Texas Hospital Quality Improvement Gold

Memorial Medical Center has received the Texas Hospital Quality Improvement Gold, a quality improvement award from TMF® Health Quality Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Texas. The award recognizes Memorial Medical Center's efforts to improve patient outcomes on select national quality measures. Out of all 313 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS or Acute Care) Hospitals and 80 Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) statewide, 33 earned the Texas Hospital Quality Improvement Gold Award. The Silver Award went to 45 hospitals, and 57 hospitals earned the Bronze Award. Hospitals receiving these awards were recognized at a special ceremony in Austin on June 11.

The Texas Hospital Quality Improvement Awards honor Texas hospitals that are performing quality initiatives aimed at improving outcomes in patient care by recognizing those hospitals that have improved their performance on specific national quality measures.

For the award evaluation, CAHs were evaluated on the reporting of at least one Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) and Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) measure set, as well as the Appropriate Care Measure (ACM) score. The ACM for CAHs focused on indicators for heart failure and pneumonia. The ACM is a composite score that captures whether a patient received all the care he or she was eligible to receive. The CAH Gold Award winners were required to report at least one measure set for both IQR and OQR programs during the hospital award period (Q2 2012 through Q3 2013) and had to attain an aggregate ACM score of 95-100 percent on specified clinical measures focused on heart failure and pneumonia.

CAH Silver Award winners were required to report at least one measure set for both IQR and OQR programs during the hospital award period (Q2 2012 through Q3 2013) and had to attain an aggregate ACM score of 90-94 percent on specified clinical measures focused on heart failure and pneumonia.

CAH Bronze Award winners were required to report at least one measure set for both IQR and OQR programs during the hospital award period (Q2 2012 through Q3 2013) and had to attain an aggregate ACM score of 80-89 percent on specified clinical measures focused on heart failure and pneumonia.

"We are very proud to have achieved this recognition. Our success illustrates our commitment to patient safety and to delivering quality health care," said Erin Clevenger, CNO and Director of Quality at Memorial Medical Center. "It was a significant amount of work, but well worth it because it was the right thing to do for our patients. The way I explain it to people is if you are admitted to a hospital, you should receive the same evidence based treatment whether you are at MMC or a big city hospital. We have put in countless hours of research and education to put policies and protocols in place to make sure that happens here."

"TMF is proud to recognize these hospitals for promoting quality improvement activities and their senior management for promoting a quality culture," said Tom Manley, CEO of TMF Health Quality Institute. "Quality improvement is a complex and demanding process, and we thank Memorial Medical Center for their commitment to improving the health of Texans and the efficiency of health care in our state."

"Proven standards of care can save lives," said Clevenger. "We will continue to enhance our quality improvement efforts through our collaboration with partners and with TMF Health Quality Institute to ensure that every person gets the right care at the right time, every time."

TMF Health Quality Institute sponsors the awards program in partnership with Texas Hospital Association and Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals.