PITTSBURGH, Pa., Nov. 26, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Allegheny General Hospital(AGH), Allegheny Valley Hospital and West Penn Hospital, all part of the Allegheny Health Network, are among a select group of medical centers in the country, including just 57 in Pennsylvania, to be lauded as Top Performers on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States.
The hospitals were recognized as part of The Joint Commission's 2014 annual report "America's Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety," for attaining and sustaining clinical care excellence across a number of key performance measures.
AGH and AVH are recognized for the treatment of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and for overall surgical care. West Penn is noted for heart attack, pneumonia and surgical care. It is the second consecutive year that AVH has earned the Joint Commission's designation, making it one of just 712 in the nation to do so. AGH is the only quaternary medical center in western Pennsylvania to be named a "top performer".
The Joint Commission Top Performer program recognizes hospitals for improving performance on evidence-based interventions that increase the chances of healthy outcomes for patients with certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, children's asthma, stroke, venous thromboembolism and perinatal care, as well as for surgical care, inpatient psychiatric services and immunizations.
"Delivering the right treatment in the right way at the right time is a cornerstone of high-quality health care. I commend the efforts of these Allegheny Health Network hospitals for their excellent performance on the use of evidence-based interventions," said Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president and CEO, The Joint Commission.
Tony Farah, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Allegheny Health Network, said the consistent high-quality of care at AGH, AVH and West Penn is a testament to the exceptional caliber, experience and dedication of caregivers and staff at all levels.
"These hospitals have long and proud traditions of patient care excellence and commitment to the communities they serve. The talent, hard work and passion required to achieve this important recognition by The Joint Commission reflects what has always made our hospitals such special places to receive care," said Dr. Farah. "What matters most to patients is the quality of the care they receive and the experience they are afforded. Our goal is to always exceed those expectations by advancing patient outcomes through evidence-based care and by incorporating service excellence into everything we do."
To be a Joint Commission Top Performer, hospitals had to meet three performance criteria based on 2013 accountability measure data, including:
- Achieving cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures;
- Achieving performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure where there were at least 30 denominator cases; and
- Having at least one core measure set that had a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and (within that measure set) all applicable individual accountability measures had a performance rate of 95 percent or above.
For more information about the Top Performer program, visit http://www.jointcommission.org/accreditation/top_performers.aspx.
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