The Joint Commission Names Seven Sutter Health Hospitals Top Performers for Quality Health Care

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Joint Commission, the nation's leading accreditor of health care organizations, today named seven Sutter Health network hospitals Top Performers on Key Quality Measures™. Only 620 – or 18 percent – of Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals in the nation earned the distinction of Top Performer for quality performance in 2011. Hospitals receive recognition in health care quality for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance.  Sutter Health recognized hospitals include: 

Central Valley

• Memorial Hospital Los Banos – Recognized for pneumonia care
• Sutter Tracy Community Hospital – Recognized for pneumonia and surgical care

Greater Sacramento Region

• Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital – Recognized for pneumonia and surgical care
• Sutter Davis Hospital – Recognized for pneumonia and surgical care
• Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento – Recognized for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia care

North Bay Area

• Sutter Medical Center, Santa Rosa – Recognized for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care

South Bay Are

• Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center, Santa Cruz – Recognized for surgical care

"For many years our integrated network has shared best practices and worked closely with patients and their families to help ensure they receive care and treatment personalized to their needs," said Gordon Hunt M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer for Sutter Health. "By continually assessing and improving upon our services, we're maintaining a high quality of care while keeping overall costs down-and that means greater value for the communities we serve."

About the Recognitions
The Joint Commission aggregated previous calendar year data to determine 'top performers' for health care quality. Winners must meet two 95 percent performance thresholds in the accountability measures for which they report data.   

• Top performers must achieve a composite performance of 95 percent or above after individual results are factored into a single score (including measures that had less than 30 eligible cases or patients).
• Top performers must meet or exceed 95 percent in every accountability measure (excluding measures with less than 30 eligible cases or patients).

The Joint Commission recognized winning hospitals today in its annual report The Joint Commission's "Improving America's Hospitals" annual report.  The Joint Commission also will recognize hospitals in its Quality Check website (www.qualitycheck.org).

Serving patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, not-for-profit hospitals and other health care service providers share resources and expertise to advance health care quality and access. The Sutter Medical Network includes many of California's top-performing, highest quality physician organizations as measured annually by the Integrated Healthcare Association. Sutter-affiliated hospitals are regional leaders in cardiac care, women's and children's services, cancer care, orthopedics and advanced patient safety technology.

For more information about the not-for-profit Sutter Health network, please visit:
SutterHealth.org/about/ | www.Facebook.com/SutterHealth | www.YouTube.com/SutterHealth | www.twitter.com/SutterHealth

SOURCE Sutter Health