WellStar Hospitals Place on Quality Honor Roll

WellStar Cobb, Douglas, Kennestone and Paulding hospitals were recently named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Quality Honor Roll. Additionally, WellStar Paulding Hospital is one of 21 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Chairman’s category, the highest on the list. WellStar Kennestone, Cobb and Douglas hospitals placed on the Presidential Honor Roll. The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which administers these programs. The data was collected from July 2009 to June 2010.

“This is a great accomplishment for WellStar,” said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “This recognition further underscores the commitment of the WellStar staff to ensuring that every patient receives the best, most effective healthcare possible.”

All acute care hospitals are required to submit care data to CMS. This data details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of eight Appropriate Care Measures (ACM). These measures 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 patients receives the right care at the right time and this recognition validates this,” said Marcia Delk, M.D., senior vice president of medical affairs and chief quality officer for WellStar. “This honor is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff who are constantly working to make excellent care even better.”