NCH earns Top Performer recognition from The Joint Commission

Northwest Community Healthcare was recently recognized as a "2013 Top Performer" on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States.

NCH was recognized for excellence in heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care accountability measures. NCH is one of 1,224 hospitals in the U.S. to achieve the 2013 Top Performer distinction and is recognized in The Joint Commission's 2014 annual report "America's Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety."

The 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, surgical care, children's asthma, stroke, venous thromboembolism and perinatal care, as well as for inpatient psychiatric services and immunizations.

To be a 2013 Top Performer, NCH 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 all applicable individual accountability measures had a performance rate of 95 percent or above.

"We understand what matters most to patients at NCH is the quality and safety of the care they receive," says NCH CEO Steve Scogna. "That is why we have made it a top priority to improve positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes."

"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 NCH for their excellent performance on the use of evidence-based interventions," says Dr. Mark R. Chassin, president and CEO, The Joint Commission.