University of Virginia Medical Center has earned two 2015 national Women's Choice Awards® from WomenCertified Inc. - one for patient safety and one for patient satisfaction in orthopedics.
The 2015 America's Best Hospitals for Patient Safety award recognizes hospitals with low rates of surgical complications and hospital-associated infections, based on data reported by hospitals to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
The award is based on an average ranking for hospitals on 11 measures that are reported to CMS, according to WomenCertified. Slight additional weighting is given to surgical complications based on a survey of women that identified that measure as an important issue for them. Hospitals must also have above-average recommendations from patients to qualify for the award.
"We are pleased to see recognition of our efforts to provide high-quality, safe care to our patients," said Pamela M. Sutton-Wallace, chief executive officer of UVA Medical Center. "It takes dedication from team members across the Medical Center to earn this award."
Finding ways to improve the quality of care is an ongoing effort at UVA, said Richard P. Shannon, MD, UVA's executive vice president for health affairs. "Through our Be Safe initiative, our real-time process for identifying and solving safety issues, we seek ways every day to improve patient safety," he said.
Orthopedics Honored For Patient Satisfaction
The 2015 America's Best Hospitals for Orthopedics award recognizes hospitals for excellent patient satisfaction based on responses to select questions on the federal Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient satisfaction survey.
To be eligible for the award, hospitals must offer comprehensive orthopedic care - including arthroscopic surgery, joint replacements and spine surgery - as well as onsite MRIs and physical therapy. Eligible hospitals are then evaluated based on patients' HCAHPS responses in two areas that a survey of women identified as being important to them, according to WomenCertified:
•Whether they would recommend the hospital to family and friends.
•The quality of post-operative recovery instructions.
"We are honored to receive this award, which reflects our commitment to providing excellent patient care and service across a wide range of orthopedic services," said Bobby Chhabra, MD, chair of UVA's Department of Orthopedic Surgery.
Nursing resources key to improving patient experience ratings