Children’s Hospital Oakland is One of Only Seven Pediatric Hospitals in United States Named a Top Performer

Newswise — September 20, 2012, Oakland, Calif. – Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland was just named one of the nation’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of healthcare organizations in America. Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, children’s asthma, stroke and venous thromboembolism, as well as inpatient psychiatric services.

One of only seven children’s hospitals in the nation to earn Top Performer honor, Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is recognized for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance in asthma care.

A total of 620 hospitals in the U.S. earned the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2011 calendar year. The list of Top Performers increased by 50 percent from its debut last year and represents 18 percent of accredited hospitals reporting data. Each of the hospitals that were named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures met two 95 percent (95/95) performance thresholds on 2011 accountability measure data. First, each hospital achieved performance of 95 percent or above on a single, composite score that includes all the accountability measures for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, including measures that had fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. Second, each hospital met or exceeded 95 percent performance on every accountability measure for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, excluding any measures with fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice – for example, giving aspirin at arrival for heart attack patients, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery, and providing a home management plan for children with asthma.

“When we raise the bar and provide the proper guidance and tools, hospitals have responded with excellent results,” says Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president, The Joint Commission. “This capacity for continual improvement points toward a future in which quality and safety defects are dramatically reduced and high reliability is sought and achieved with regularity. Such day-to-day progress will slowly but surely transform today’s health care system into one that achieves unprecedented performance outcomes for the benefit of the patients.”

“For the last 100 years, Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland has been committed to providing top quality, safe, and effective healthcare to all children,” said Bertram Lubin, MD, Children’s president and CEO. “Our doctors, nurses, clinical staff, and employees deliver exceptional care every day and The Joint Commission’s recognition is a testament to their hard work and dedication to achieving positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes. We are proud to be included in of The Joint Commission’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures.”

In addition to being included in The Joint Commission’s news release, “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report (http://www.jointcommission.org/annualreport.aspx), Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland will be recognized on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website (www.qualitycheck.org). The Top Performer program will be featured in the November issue of The Joint Commission Perspectives and the October issue of The Joint Commission: The Source.

About Children’s Hospital & Research Center OaklandChildren’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is Northern California’s only independent not-for-profit regional medical center for children. Children’s Hospital Oakland is a national leader in many pediatric specialties and sub-specialties including hematology/oncology, neonatology, cardiology, orthopedics, sports medicine, and neurosurgery. The hospital is one of only two solely designated California Level 1 pediatric trauma centers with the largest pediatric inpatient critical care unit in the region. Children’s Hospital has 190 licensed beds, 201 hospital-based physicians in 30 specialties, more than 2,700 employees, and an annual operating budget of more than $350 million. Children’s is also a premier teaching hospital with an outstanding pediatric residency program and a number of unique pediatric subspecialty fellowship programs. To learn more about Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland first 100 years, go to www.100amazingyears.org.

Children’s research program, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), is known internationally for state-of-the-art basic and clinical research and translating it into interventions for treating and preventing human diseases. CHORI has 300 members of its investigative staff, a budget of about $50 million, and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 research centers in National Institutes of Health funding to children’s hospitals. For more information, go to www.childrenshospitaloakland.org and www.chori.org.