Habersham Medical Center Wins First Place Statewide Quality And Patient Safety Award And Circle Of Excellence Honor
ATLANTA – The Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) recently presented its prestigious Quality and Patient Safety Award to Habersham Medical Center for its project that enhanced care for patients who are transferred to long-term care facilities or other agencies after their stay at Habersham Medical Center. The project titled, “Transition of Care,” won first place in the Hospitals Under 100 Beds Category.
Habersham Medical Center was also presented with a Circle of Excellence Award, an honor given to hospitals that have demonstrated a sustained commitment to quality and patient safety as evidenced by not only winning a patient safety award in 2009, but also by earning three or more PHA Patient Safety Awards within the previous five years. Only three other hospitals were awarded the Circle of Excellence, and Habersham Medical Center was the only community hospital in Georgia to earn this honor.
“These annual awards recognize Georgia health care organizations for achievement in reducing the risk of medical errors and improving patient safety and medical outcomes,” said Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) President Joseph Parker. “We applaud Habersham Medical Center for its leadership and dedication in this critical area and its commitment to providing the best and safest care possible for its patients.”
“When patients are transferred from Habersham Medical Center to a home health agency, long-term care or assisted living facility, we make sure that the caregivers taking over the patients’ care have all the information they need for a comprehensive continuum of care,” says Teri Newsome, RN and Habersham Medical Center’s director of quality management. “We provide them with follow-up appointments, list of medications, treatment guidelines and other information and try to remove any communication barriers between the organizations by following up to make sure they don’t have any questions and have all the information they need to continue the patients care. As a result of our “Transition of Care” program, Habersham Medical Center reduced its 30-day readmission rate by 42 percent.”
“These awards are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team of healthcare professionals who are committed to Habersham Medical Center’s mission to provide quality and safe patient care in a professional, economical and compassionate manner to every patient we serve,” adds Newsome. “We are constantly setting the benchmark for other hospitals our size and larger, and it’s a remarkable achievement to be recognized as a leader in quality and safety.”
About PHA
The Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) was established in January 2000 to improve patient care and patient safety in hospitals and other health care facilities and create healthy communities.
About GHA
Established in 1929, GHA is the state’s largest trade organization of hospitals and health systems providing education, research and risk management services to its more than 170 hospital and health system members. Additionally, it represents and advocates health policy issues benefiting Georgia’s citizens before the state legislature and U.S. Congress as well as before regulatory bodies.
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