News Seton Hospitals Receive Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Awards

AUSTIN, TX - (August 19, 2009) - Seton Medical Center Austin, Seton Southwest Hospital and Seton Edgar B. Davis Hospital have received the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Achievement Award from TMF® Health Quality Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Texas. The awards honor hospitals that are improving patient care outcomes through quality initiatives focused on national quality measures.

TMF established the awards program in partnership with The Texas Hospital Association, Texas Medical Association, Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals and Texas Osteopathic Medical Association.

"To achieve this recognition, Seton Medical Center Austin, Seton Southwest Hospital and Seton Edgar B. Davis Hospital demonstrated significant improvement across several national quality measures. Our success illustrates our commitment to patient safety and to delivering quality health care," said Joyce Batcheller, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Senior Vice President and System Chief Nursing Officer of the Seton Family of Hospitals. "It was a significant amount of work, but well worth it because it was the right thing to do for our patients."

The awards acknowledge hospitals for improving care related to acute myocardial infarction or AMI (heart attack), heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care. These clinical areas have been designated as national health care priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit, standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

The awards recognize hospitals that are active in quality improvement and have made the required improvement on a composite scoring system, called the Appropriate Care Measure (ACM). For acute care hospitals, the ACM consists of 24 quality indicators: eight AMI, four heart failure, seven pneumonia and five surgical care measures. Critical access hospitals used an ACM score based on 11 quality indicators: four heart failure and seven pneumonia measures.

These CMS/Joint Commission priority areas were targeted because they measure care for common, serious health conditions that affect all adult patients. The quality measures-such as an initial antibiotic dose within four hours of admission for patients with pneumonia-are designed to ensure hospitals provide care consistent with current medical guidelines.

Out of 227 participating Texas hospitals, 27 have met the criteria and were presented with the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award of Excellence and 66 were presented with the Quality Improvement Achievement Award.

"As a nonprofit consulting company focused on promoting quality health and health care, 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 the Seton Family of Hospitals for their commitment to improving the health of Texans and the efficiency of health care in our state."