Atlantic General Hospital Recognized as 2010 Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award Winner

Atlantic General Scores Above 90% on 15 Key, Clinical Performance Indicators

The Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Maryland, has awarded the 2010 Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award for Quality Improvement to Atlantic General Hospital.

“Delmarva is proud to recognize Atlantic General Hospital as recipient of the Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award for Quality Improvement,” said Nancy Jane C. Friedley, MD, Delmarva Medical Director. “Recipients of this award possess a passionate commitment to improving quality of care for their patients. Atlantic General’s leadership and staff have demonstrated significant and sustained quality improvement practices over the past year by receiving high marks for treating heart attack, congestive heart failure, surgical, and pneumonia patients. We commend their achievements and look forward to our continued collaboration to improve the health of Maryland’s Medicare beneficiaries.”

The Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award for Quality Improvement recognizes individual hospital performance improvement in four national inpatient clinical areas: acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, surgical care, and pneumonia. To receive the award, hospitals must meet or exceed the following criteria:

• Score 90 percent or above on 15 required measures, such as aspirin given to patients upon admission for heart attack and initial antibiotic received by pneumonia patients within six hours of their arrival at the hospital.
• Sustain the improvement for at least three consecutive quarters.
• Report at least 24 quality measures to the Hospital Quality Alliance.

“A key element that is integral to improving patient outcomes is the collaboration of a diverse clinical team, including our physicians, nursing, pharmacists, and respiratory therapists, who provide direct patient care and have the clinical expertise to recommend best practices,” said Chuck Gizara, director of clinical operations at Atlantic General.

For several years, the clinical team at Atlantic General has been working toward sustained compliance of 90 percent or greater with the Delmarva Foundation’s 15 key measures. In September 2009, the hospital’s Performance Improvement Team was formally established to undertake these goals and subsequently push them another step: to maintain at least 90 percent compliance with a total of 24 quality measures.

“The team is to be commended, having taken very disparate performance indicators that have an impact in the emergency department, surgical services, intensive care, and in-patient services and met these goals in the top 10 percent of the nation,” said Colleen Wareing, vice president of patient care services. “Without nurses, physicians, pharmacists and infectious disease specialists redesigning our current care delivery processes, this sustained improvement could not have been achieved.”

For more information about the award, visit http://www.mdqio.org/providers/awards/excellenceDetails.html or http://www.mdqio.org/providers/awards/excellenceDetails.html .
About Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care, Inc
Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (DFMC) is the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Maryland. DFMC is under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve the quality of health care for Maryland’s 730,000 plus Medicare beneficiaries. Delmarva provides a range of services, including the development of interventional processes, convening healthcare organizations and stakeholders, fostering the spread of clinical or community practices that improve patient safety and healthcare delivery, and lessening the healthcare disparities that exist in our healthcare system. DFMC has offices in both Columbia, Md. and Easton. For more information, visit http://www.mdqio.org