University Health System Joins UHC

CHICAGO, Nov. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- UHC welcomes University Health System in San Antonio as its 120th academic medical center member. UHC, a Chicago-based consortium offering educational programs and opportunities for members across the country to share knowledge and best practices to achieve optimal outcomes, also includes nearly 300 affiliated hospitals in its membership. 

"I'm pleased to welcome University Health System to UHC," said Irene Thompson, UHC's president and chief executive officer. "University Health System will join other leading academic medical centers to collaborate with leaders in the health care industry and work hand-in-hand with UHC to achieve its goals in health care delivery."

University Health System is a nationally recognized academic medical center and comprehensive network of ambulatory care centers, proudly owned by the people of Bexar County. For 2013-14, U.S. News & World Report ranks University Health System as the best hospital in San Antonio and among the top 50 in the country for the care of patients with kidney disease and urological conditions. University Health System is also the first public health system in Texas to be designated as a Magnet Hospital by the American Nurses Association.

"We are excited to be part of UHC's membership," said George B. Hernandez, Jr., president/CEO of University Health System. "Investing in strategic research, and comparative data for clinical and operational benchmarking, will help us understand what we are doing well as well as the specific things we can do better to improve care and outcomes for our patients. Understanding the responsibility we have to the people who place their health and their lives in our hands, our top priority is to efficiently and consistently provide the very best in high quality, patient-centered care."

About UHC
UHC is an alliance of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers, which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. Formed in 1984 and based in Chicago, Ill, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 120 academic medical center and 299 affiliated hospital members through its renowned solutions in the areas of performance improvement, comparative data and analytics, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. UHC's membership includes the leading nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States. For more information, visit uhc.edu.

About University Health System
University Health System is a nationally recognized academic medical center and network of outpatient health centers, owned by the taxpayers of Bexar County, University Health System is consistently recognized as a leader for going paperless with electronic medical records and is the first public health system in Texas to be designated as Magnet Hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. University Hospital, its 498-bed acute care hospital, is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, consistently named Best Regional Hospital U.S. News & World Report and is one of just 15 Level I trauma centers in Texas. University Health System's Community First Health Plans is the region's only locally-owned, nonprofit HMO and San Antonio AirLIFE, jointly owned by University Health System, is a national leader in emergency air medical transport. For more, please go online at UniversityHealthSystem.com.

SOURCE UHC