Monroe County Hospital & Clinics is proud to announce that Press Ganey Associates, Inc. has named it a 2010 Summit Award Winner. Press Ganey currently partners with more than 10,000 health care facilities—including 50% of U.S. hospitals—to measure and improve the quality of their care. The company’s databases are the largest in the industry, and allow facilities nationwide to benchmark their results against peer organizations. The Summit Award recognizes top performing facilities that sustain the highest level of customer satisfaction for three or more consecutive years. Monroe County Hospital & Clinics is one of 80 Press Ganey client facilities to receive this honor in 2010.
Monroe County Hospital was recognized as a repeat winner (5 consecutive years in the top 5% in the nation) for Outpatient care and Emergency Room care, and the hospital also received recognition for maintaining its Ambulatory Surgery patient satisfaction among the best in the nation for three consecutive years. Across the country, just 25 hospitals won either the Emergency Room or outpatient awards this year. Monroe County is one of just three hospitals in the country to win both.
Richard B. Siegrist, Jr., president and CEO of Press Ganey, noted, “We are proud partners of Monroe County Hospital & Clinics. MCHC continues to maintain a high level of patient satisfaction over the past five years. Their efforts benefit Monroe County and surrounding areas and lead to improved delivery of health care.”
We are honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Monroe County Hospital & Clinics CEO Greg Paris, “It is representative of the outstanding people who are committed to providing quality care and service to our patients. We know that our service is what we have become known for, but we also have some of the best clinical outcomes in the country. For example, we have some of the highest Nurse to patient ratios in the country. That means you see your nurse more frequently and it results in fewer falls and infections at MCH than you will see in other facilities. We don’t do the things we do to win awards; but when we win awards like the Summit Award, it is independent validation that we are doing the right thing.”
The improvement at Monroe County Hospital & Clinics began in 2003 with the assistance of a company called StuderGroup. StuderGroup helps hospitals hardwire behaviors that improve service and clinical results, in addition to making the hospital a great place to work. These behaviors start with hiring the best people. “Many people think because we are small, we don’t have people with the same certifications and training as Des Moines hospitals,” said Paris. “Not only do we have the same training, we hire only the best people. This results in better communication, teamwork, and care.”
Clinical care improvements at the local hospital include scheduling a Nurse to check on patients every hour; the result is fewer falls, fewer bed sores, and improved pain control. That directly correlates to patients getting better faster, going home sooner, and lives being saved. Paris concluded, “The vision we set 7 years ago to become the best in the nation is true. People are requesting to stay local for their care. We’ve attracted better physicians. And people are actually leaving larger towns to come to MCH because they realize we can serve them quicker, treat them nicer, and take care of them better than larger facilities where they are just a number. When it comes to local healthcare, smaller is better.”
Monroe County Hospital employees, physicians and Board will be celebrating this achievement, as well as other successes from fiscal year 2010, on November 30, 2010 during its annual ‘Celebrate Excellence’ Event.
Click here to view other Monroe County Hospital & Clinics hospital achievements.