Capital Health Regional Medical Center is nation’s first and only hospital named both stroke top performer and advanced comprehensive stroke center by Joint Commission
TRENTON, NJ - Capital Health Regional Medical Center, already certified by the Joint Commission as an Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center, has now been named by The Joint Commission as a 2012 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures — making the medical center the nation’s first and only hospital with both stroke designations.
Comprehensive Stroke Center status elevated Regional Medical Center as an elite institution for treating the most complex stroke and cerebrovascular cases such as aneurysms and AVMs. The Top Performer status recognizes the hospital’s performance on key quality measures, and further distinguishes the stroke programs.
Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell also has been named a 2012 Top Performer and is a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center.
Stroke care is just one part of Capital Health’s very significant commitment to comprehensive neuroscience treatment and research at its Capital Institute for Neurosciences (CIN). CIN encompasses both campuses including the Center for Neurologic Emergency Medicine, the nation’s only emergency department for brain emergencies. In addition to stroke, CIN offers sophisticated diagnosis and treatment of aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs); brain and spinal tumors; and spinal conditions including degenerative disorders, injury and vascular disorders. A series of subspeciality programs also provide specialized care for neurologic conditions including epilepsy, headache, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases as well as pediatric conditions, including developmental delays, genetic disorders, and attention deficit disorders. Another program focuses on difficult-to-treat pain.
Capital Health also was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for heart attack, heart failure and surgical care.
“We are very proud that both of our medical centers received recognition this year as Top Performer hospitals and that our Joint Commission Certified Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center achieved the highest level of recognition for quality. Ensuring that our patient care is safe and effective is our highest priority. That’s why Capital Health has made a commitment to positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes,” said Al Maghazehe, president and chief executive officer of Capital Health.
Capital Health’s hospitals are two of less than 20 hospitals in the U.S. earning the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for Stroke for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2012 calendar year. This is the second year in a row that Capital Health Medical Center – Hopewell is being recognized as a Top Performer in the areas of stroke, heart failure, heart attack and surgical care.
Each of the hospitals that were named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures must: 1) achieve cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures; 2) achieve performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure where there are at least 30 denominator cases; and 3) have at least one core measure set that has a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and within that measure set, all applicable individual accountability measures have a performance rate of 95 percent or above. A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice – for example, giving aspirin at arrival for heart attack patients, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery, and providing a home management plan for children with asthma.
“When we raise the bar and provide the proper guidance and tools, hospitals have responded with excellent results,” says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president, The Joint Commission. “This capacity for continual improvement points toward a future in which quality and safety defects are dramatically reduced and high reliability is sought and achieved with regularity. Such day-to-day progress will slowly but surely transform today’s health care system into one that achieves unprecedented performance outcomes for the benefit of the patients.”
In addition to being included in today’s release of The Joint Commission’s “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report, Capital Health will be recognized on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website (www.qualitycheck.org). The Top Performer program will be featured in the November issue of The Joint Commission Perspectives and the October issue of The Joint Commission: The Source.