On Nov. 17, 2015, The Joint Commission announced that for the second time in just two years, St. Luke’s Hospital has been nationally recognized by the country’s premier accreditation agency for hospitals as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for 2014. Recognized as a Top Performer in quality measures for treating pneumonia and for surgical care, St. Luke’s is one of 37 hospitals in North Carolina to be recognized by The Joint Commission as a Top Performer this year.

 

In announcing this impressive milestone for the community hospital, The Joint Commission states, “This achievement demonstrates St. Luke’s Hospital’s commitment to assuring that evidence-based interventions are delivered in the right way and at the right time because it is the right thing to do for our patients.”

 

The program highlights hospitals that demonstrate excellent performance on evidence-based process of care measures and encourages hospitals to consistently improve performance.

 

Top performing hospitals were formally announced Tuesday by The Joint Commission, timed for release of “America’s Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety: The Joint Commission’s Annual Report 2015.” This report summarizes data on 49 accountability measures reported by more than 3,300 Joint Commission-accredited hospitals in 2014. These data show how well hospitals are performing on evidence-based care processes for treating conditions including pneumonia, surgical care, heart attack and stroke.

 

More information on top performing hospitals or The Joint Commission’s annual report can be found at www.jointcommission.org.

 

“We are extremely proud to be nationally recognized for providing exceptional, quality care,” said Ken Shull, chief executive officer for St. Luke’s Hospital. “Our teammates and physicians at St. Luke’s have worked hard to meet the care measures, but we take great pride in knowing that we meet national standards for best patient care.”

 

The Joint Commission’s recognition of St. Luke’s Hospital is the “icing on the cake” of several other accolades for the community hospital and the team of physicians, employees and volunteers have recently received. Over the past three reporting quarters, St. Luke’s was recognized by the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services

(CMS) for achieving high patient satisfaction, earning both Four and Five Summary Stars.

 

In addition, the hospital is proudly displaying three banners as Top Performers within the Carolinas HealthCare System’s (CHS) 26 facilities. And the St. Luke’s Physicians’ Network comprised of Foothills Medical Associates, St. Luke’s Surgical Associates and Rosenberg Bone and Joint, was recently recognized by Press Ganey for achieving high patient satisfaction.

 

“We believe in the saying ‘what gets measured, gets treasured,’ because it sets the standard of care. Whether it’s care measures, key performance indicators, patient satisfaction or patient safety, we measure our performance to improve our performance,” Shull said. “It’s easy to say ‘we provide quality care,’ but this designation from The Joint Commission provides the proof.”

 

The Joint Commission’s Top Performer on Key Quality Measures program was introduced in 2011 to recognize accredited hospitals that attain excellence in accountability measures data reported to The Joint Commission during the previous calendar year. The data report on evidence-based interventions for the top reasons for admission to a hospital, including pneumonia and surgical care.

 

To be recognized as a Top Performer, hospitals must meet a three-step process for achieving cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures. Eligibility for this recognition is determined using prior year’s data that hospitals already submit to The Joint Commission.

 

Fully accredited by The Joint Commission after passing a rigorous site survey every three years, St. Luke’s Hospital offers a wide range of acute care services that rival many larger facilities with the added comfort of knowing that patients receive personalized, compassionate care and attention in a smaller, healing environment.

 

From digital imaging services to state-of-the-art Rehab Center, respectful geriatric care and advanced surgical procedures, St. Luke’s Hospital also provides Emergency Services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Polk County EMS services and a helicopter pad are located on the hospital campus should a patient need to be transported for a higher level of trauma care only available at larger facilities.

 

As a 35-bed, not-for-profit community hospital, St. Luke’s maintains close professional ties with Mission Hospital, Spartanburg Medical Center and Carolinas HealthCare System when patients need a higher level of tertiary care or specialty services that larger facilities can deliver.

 

“The healthcare services we offer this community, we do very well. The data is proof,” Shull said. “The team at St. Luke’s is very proud of the care we give our patients and families, however, we continually work to improve our care measures and our patients’ experience. We will always strive to improve, but being recognized by The Joint Commission confirms what I believe—that St. Luke’s Hospital provides exceptional care, close to home.”

 

– Submitted by Kathy Woodham