Austin, TX (May 25, 2006) - Seton Medical Center Austin, a member of the Seton Family of Hospitals, has been recognized for continuously improving the care and safety of its patients. The medical center was named a recipient of the "2005 Solucient 100 Top Hospitals® Performance Improvement Leaders" award. In 2004, Seton Medical Center Austin was also identified as one of the nation's top hospitals overall according to the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals® National Benchmarks for Success study.
Seton Medical Center was recognized for setting national benchmarks for consistent improvement in clinical outcomes, safety, hospital efficiency, financial stability and growth over five years (2000-2004). These gains translate to significant value to the community because the health care services Seton provides are improving more steadily and quickly than many peer hospitals, according to Solucient.
The award is based on the results of a national Performance Improvement (PI) Leaders study conducted by Solucient, a leading health information products company that maintains the nation's largest health care database.
"In an era of continuous quality improvement and greater transparency, I'm very pleased Seton Medical Center has been recognized as a Performance Improvement Leader," said Charles J. Barnett, President and CEO, Seton Family of Hospitals. "I commend John Brindley, President and CEO, Seton Medical Center, his leadership team and their colleagues throughout the Seton Family of Hospitals for instilling a high performance culture."
The Solucient study looked at hospitals licensed to treat Medicare patients and examined public data, including Medicare MedPAR data and Medicare cost reports. Among "Large Community Hospitals," Seton Medical Center's risk-adjusted mortality index improved at a faster rate than 93% of hospitals in the comparison group. While all hospitals have mortalities, this measure shows where mortalities did not occur but were expected given the patient's condition. In addition, Seton Medical Center's operating margins improved by a greater percentage than 99% of hospitals in the peer group.
"Sound margins allow us to fulfill our mission by assisting those who are without health insurance or under insured," said Brindley. "As a not-for-profit organization, our proceeds from operations are reinvested back into the system and the community to support state-of-the-art care, patient safety initiatives and charitable care."
In 2005, the Seton Family of Hospitals provided an estimated $240 million in charity care and community benefits throughout Central Texas.
More information on this study is available at www.100tophospitals.com .
The Seton Family of Hospitals is the leading provider of health care services in Central Texas with approximately 20 locations throughout the region. The Seton Family includes the only hospitals in Central Texas to be granted Magnet Status, the highest award for nursing excellence given by the American Nurses Association; the only Heart Transplant Center in Central Texas; the busiest Level II Trauma Center in the state; and the first two Designated Stroke Centers in Texas to receive a Gold Seal of Approval by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. In 2005, SETON, a member of Ascension Health, the largest not-for-profit health network in the nation, provided an estimated $240 million in charity and community benefit to Central Texans.
Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the