SSM St. Joseph Hospital West Named One of Nation's Top Performers

Lake Saint Louis residents and others who utilize should feel safer knowing the hospital has been named one of the nation’s 2011 Top Performers in clinical quality measures by the Joint Commission, said the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Michael Handler.

An independent not-for-profit organization founded in 1951, the Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.

Handler said the organization is widely considered the leader in developing the highest standards for quality and safety in the delivery of health care, and in evaluating organization performance based on performance standards. Health care providers across the country use Joint Commission standards to guide how they administer care and continuously improve performance.

Hospitals are recognized by the Joint Commission based on evidence-based clinical processes proven to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care and children’s asthma. St. Joseph Hospital West was recognized as a Top Performer in four of the five categories, excluding children’s asthma, as the hospital did not have a sufficient amount of those cases to warrant review.

“I believe our success is a direct result of our staff and their focus on patients,” said Handler. “At St. Joseph Hospital West we have a strategic focus on core measures. We emphasize the role each team member plays in providing a safe environment for our patients.”

The word “core” means the most essential part of anything. Core measures of a hospital’s protocol are sets of care processes developed by the Joint Commission and adhered to by healthcare organizations to improve the quality of health care. By the commission’s standards, hospitals are supposed to follow a specific list of actions for patients in four key areas: acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), congestive heart failure, community-acquired pneumonia, and surgical care improvement.

Handler said there is documented evidence that shows when core measures are met, patients have better results.  “Basically we have educated our caregivers extensively to help with these core measures or processes, and there is known evidence-based medicine to support that the patient outcomes and quality of care received are much better when these processes are all met.”

There are several measures included under each category that dictate how that process should be handled. For example, the hospital’s Surgical Care Improvement Program (SCIP) includes 10 processes that improve patient care before, during and after surgery.  Three of those are focused on antibiotics. Another designates the appropriate time to remove a urine catheter following surgery.

As a top performer on key quality measures, SSM St. Joseph Hospital West scored better than 95 percent of hospitals in the nation on two thresholds—composite performance after the results of all the accountability measures for which they report data to The Joint Commission were factored into a single score, and performance benchmark for every accountability measure for which they report data.

Jenny Gobble, public relations and marketing manager for St. Joseph Hospital West said the hospital is the only St. Louis area hospital and one of only 405 hospitals nationwide to earn the Top Performer distinction for 2011.

“It’s important because all hospitals will soon have to have an increased focus on these core measures,” she said, adding that federal government regulations will soon mandate that a portion of reimbursement on federally funded health care will be held back if core measures are not met.

The Joint Commission’s website at www.jointcommission.org states that in 2011, 405 hospitals in the United States are being recognized, which represent the top 14 percent of Joint Commission accredited hospitals (of those hospitals that report core measure performance data).

“This recognition is a testament to our commitment to quality improvement and patient safety,” said Dr. Kevin Johnson, regional vice president and chief medical officer for SSM Health Care – St. Louis. “We are proud to highlight the great work happening at St. Joseph Hospital West and continue to share our best practices learned from the patient outcomes with all our SSM hospitals.”