September 23, 2013
September 23, 2013 – Healthcare Consumers are doing their homework these days. Before selecting a health plan or physician, they are going online to study hospital outcomes and evaluating which hospital provides the safest care. Once they’ve done their research, they are better equipped to make intelligent decisions about who should navigate their care. Adventist Medical Center (AMC) has recently achieved national recognition for providing credible online transparency about quality outcomes. URAC, an independent organization evaluating health care quality through its accreditation, education and measurement programs and The Leapfrog Group, an organization examining national healthcare standards of safety, quality, and efficiency awarded AMC the Excellence in Hospital Website Transparency Award. The award identifies outstanding hospital websites that promote transparency of quality measures in a manner that is useful and user-friendly for consumers. Hospitals websites were evaluated for communicating patient care results. Criteria included credibility, literacy, connectivity, and design as well as evaluation of the Leapfrog’s Hospital Quality Results. “We’re transparent with our outcomes because we want to keep the community well informed about the care being provided by our team of 2,000 employees who are committed to make patient safety a priority,” states Carolyn Kozik, RN, director of Quality Resources at Adventist Health. 59% of adults in the United States say they have looked online for health information in the past year. “By viewing our online data, the public can evaluate our ability to prevent complications and re-admissions, while providing safe, timely and appropriate care for their loved ones. Our goal is perfect care, every patient, every time,” continues Kozik. The hospital believes that consumers should know how they are performing and that by tracking this information they have improved as an organization in establishing processes which lead to better outcomes. It’s all part of the hospital’s continual process improvement plan. To learn more visit AdventistHealthNW.com.
