Piedmont Healthcare Hospitals Named to Quality Honor Roll

Thursday, July 01, 2010

ATLANTA (June 29, 2010) — All four Piedmont Healthcare hospitals have been named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Quality Honor Roll. Piedmont Hospital, Piedmont Fayette Hospital, Piedmont Newnan Hospital and Piedmont Mountainside Hospital are four of 51 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Presidential category. The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the Federal Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The data, reflecting performance against best practices, was collected from January to December 2009.

“It has always been our mission to ensure that each of our patients receives the right care at the right time,” said R. Timothy Stack, president and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare. “This recognition validates the hard work of our hospitals and is a tribute to the commitment of our staff members who are constantly striving to make excellent care even better.”

All acute care hospitals are required to submit care data to CMS. This data details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of eight appropriate care measures (ACM), which are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. The ACM is a composite measure that determines whether or not a patient received the right care at the right time.

For instance, a recommended treatment to help prevent a heart attack is to take aspirin either before or upon arrival at the hospital, as well as at discharge. A suggested treatment for pneumonia is to administer an antibiotic within four hours of a patient’s arrival. A hospital’s adherence to these recommended clinical practices usually leads to better outcomes.

 “This is a great accomplishment for Piedmont Healthcare,” said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “This recognition further underscores the commitment of the Piedmont Healthcare staff to ensure that every patient receives the best, most effective healthcare possible.”