CMS Lauds Penn Highlands for Quality
Two Hospitals Among Top in State
Penn Highlands Healthcare is once again being recognized for providing safe, high quality patient care resulting from ongoing efforts to prevent hospital-acquired conditions, according to a recently released report.
The report, Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program, was released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The HAC Reduction Program focuses on patient safety and hospital-acquired infections.
The patient safety measures in the report focused on outcomes for a number of conditions, including pressure ulcers, catheter-related bloodstream infections, postoperative hip fractures, blood clots and wound care following surgery, among others.
Hospital-acquired conditions evaluated in the CMS program included catheter-associated urinary tract infections and surgical site infections.
While all four Penn Highlands’ hospitals (Penn Highlands Brookville, Penn Highlands Clearfield, Penn Highlands DuBois and Penn Highlands Elk) fared well, two exceeded standards: Penn Highlands Clearfield and Penn Highlands Elk were two of the three top performing hospitals out of 148 hospitals in Pennsylvania.
Catherine Civiello, PhD, director of performance improvement for Penn Highlands Clearfield, is proud of the accomplishment.
“Penn Highlands Clearfield is proud to receive yet another report from a federal agency confirming our low infection and adverse event rates. The recognition affirms the dedication of our medical and hospital staff to providing the highest quality, safest care to the patients from our community,” she said.
Christine Garner, MSN Edu, RN, director of quality and risk management for Penn Highlands Elk, echoed Civiello’s sentiments and added, “Penn Highlands Elk’s score is related to the dedication of our entire organization working together as a team to reduce hospital-acquired infections and conditions. Each member of our team is an integral part of our success and without everyone working together this accomplishment would not have been possible. We have multidisciplinary teams working toward a common goal of providing quality care and it shows with our overall Hospital-Acquired Condition score.”
Gary DuGan, M.D., chief medical officer for Penn Highlands Healthcare, was pleased with all of the system’s hospitals’ performances, but commended Penn Highlands Clearfield and Penn Highlands Elk in particular for their achievements.
“Improving patient outcomes is the top priority of Penn Highlands Healthcare. We are extremely pleased with how our system fared in this report and applaud the efforts of our physicians, nurses and staff. The clinical team at Penn Highlands Healthcare will continue to strive for excellence because our patients deserve no less,” he said.