Mat-Su Regional Medical Center Receives Quality Achievement Award

(Palmer, AK)—Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is the 2010 recipient of Mountain-Pacific Quality Health’s Quality Achievement Award, (the highest award) presented by Mountain-Pacific CEO Janice Connors during this year’s Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA) annual conference.

Mountain-Pacific’s award program recognizes select hospitals throughout Alaska for their commitment to ensuring their patients receive the highest quality of care in the clinical areas of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and preventing surgical infection.

To be eligible for the Hospital Quality Achievement Award hospitals must submit data to the QIO Clinical Warehouse and be signed up to publicly report on Hospital Compare. They are also required to achieve set performance scores on the clinical measures listed above.

Mat-Su Regional has successfully implemented several quality improvement initiatives over the past year that have contributed to their success. One of which involves daily audits of patient medical records to ensure that core measures are applicable and appropriate. 

“We’ve hard-wired the processes that affect the core measures and have even developed an internal awards program that recognizes staff (including physicians) who complete the core measures for their patients,” says Chief Quality Officer, Lynn Gauthier.  

This is the fifth year running for this awards program. All Alaska hospitals are eligible to apply for Hospital Quality Awards. Award-winning hospitals range from small rural hospitals to large urban hospitals.

From the left: Lynn Gauthier, Chief Quality Officer; John Lee, Chief Executive Officer; John Brady, MD, Intensivist and head of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center Hospitalist Program; Pauline Burrell, Health Improvement Project Manager from Mountain Pacific Quality Health; Emily Stevens, Chief Nursing Officer; Val Eucke, Chief Financial Officer.