Quality Conference Awards 2008

Arkansas health care facilities receive Quality Awards

AFMC honors excellence in health care

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) recently recognized 60 health care facilities with Quality Awards for their commitment to excellence in healthcare. The awards were presented during AFMC’s 15th Quality Conference, held May 22 at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

According to Dr. Nick Paslidis, AFMC’s chief executive office, the award recipients have done more than just talk about improving health care -- they’ve taken real and effective action.

“These award winners are helping to bring our state into an era of increased communication and accountability in health care,” Paslidis said. “The steps they are taking now are already resulting in better care for their patients, and are also preparing our state’s health care system to meet the demands of the future.”

Home Health Quality Awards

Home health agencies were eligible for three types of Quality Awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” “Telehealth” and “Innovator.” In the “Best Achievement” and “Most Improved” categories, awards were presented for small, medium and large agencies. Results for “Best Achievement” and “Most Improved” were determined based on quality of care data.

Innovator Awards were presented to home health agencies that demonstrated a system change that resulted in improved processes and outcomes. The agency must have served as a mentor to other agencies in implementing similar changes.

The home health winners were:

Hospital Quality Awards

Hospitals were eligible for four types of Quality Awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” “Validation” and “Innovator.” Results for “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” and “Validation” were determined based on quality of care data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Innovator Awards were presented to hospitals that shared innovative and successful strategies with their peers and acted as mentors to other facilities.

Hospital winners were:

Nursing Home Quality Awards

Nursing Home Quality Awards were given to nursing homes that improved in areas such as pressure ulcer prevention and treatment, restraint use, chronic pain management and depression management. Facilities were eligible for three types of awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” and “Innovator.” Results for “Best Achievement” and “Most Improved” were determined based on quality of care data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Innovator Awards were presented to nursing homes that demonstrated a system change that resulted in improved processes and outcomes. The home must have served as a mentor to other facilities in implementing similar changes.

The nursing home winners were:

Physician Office Quality Awards

Physician offices were eligible for three types of Quality Awards: “Quality Improvement,” “HIT,” and “Innovator.”

Quality Improvement Awards went to physician offices that made use of an EHR or disease registry to produce a report on a minimum of 50 patients monitoring 4 of AFMC’s outpatient quality indicators; and who, based upon review of data in
this report, identified the need for and launched a system change.

HIT Awards recognized physician offices that demonstrated use of, as well as the ability to produce, data-specific electronic reports capturing at least two outpatient quality indicators by either an electronic health record or stand-alone patient registry.

Innovator Awards were presented to physician offices that shared innovative and successful strategies with their peers and acted as mentors to other facilities.

Physician office winners were:

For detailed information about award requirements, contact AFMC’s Health Care Quality Improvement Program team at 1-877-375-5700.