Fort Oglethorpe-Hutcheson in Fort Oglethorpe has been named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Quality Honor Roll. Hutcheson is one of the highest on the list and one of forty-eight hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Presidential category. The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The data was collected from October 2008 to September 2009.
“This is a great accomplishment for Hutcheson,” said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “This recognition further underscores the commitment of the Hutcheson staff to ensuring that every patient receives the best, most effective health care possible.”
All acute care hospitals are required to submit quality care data to CMS. This data details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of eight Appropriate Care Measures (ACM), which are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. The ACM is a composite measure that determines whether or not a patient received the right care at the right time.
For instance, a recommended treatment to help prevent a heart attack is to take aspirin either before or upon arrival at the hospital, as well as at discharge. A suggested treatment for pneumonia is to administer an antibiotic within four hours of a patient’s arrival. A hospital’s adherence to these recommended clinical practices usually leads to better outcomes.
“It is our mission to ensure that each of our patient’s receive the quality care at the right time and this recognition validates this,” said Charles Stewart, president and CEO of Hutcheson. “This honor is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff who are constantly working to make excellent care even better.”