Awards in Quality Improvement

Quality Conference Awards 2007

Arkansas healthcare facilities receive Quality Awards
AFMC honors excellence in healthcare

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) recently recognized 76 healthcare facilities with Quality Awards for their commitment to excellence in healthcare. The awards were presented during AFMC’s 14th Quality Conference, held May 31 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

According to Dr. William E. Golden, AFMC’s vice president for clinical quality improvement, this year’s recipients are dedicated to improving care in their local communities and throughout the state.
“These healthcare providers are raising the standards in many areas of care,” said Golden. “They are to be commended for their hard work and dedication to self assessment that results in better care for their patients.”

Home Health Quality Awards

Home health agencies were eligible for three types of Quality Awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved” and “Innovator.” In the “Best Achievement” and “Most Improved” categories, awards were presented for small, medium and large agencies. Results for “Best Achievement” and “Most Improved” were determined based on quality of care data.

Innovator Awards were presented to home health agencies that demonstrated a system change that resulted in improved processes and outcomes. The agency must have served as a mentor to other agencies in implementing similar changes.
Home health winners were:

Hospital Quality Awards

Hospitals were eligible for four types of Quality Awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” “Validation” and “Innovator.” Results for “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” and “Validation” were determined based on quality of care data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Innovator Awards were presented to hospitals that shared innovative and successful strategies with their peers and acted as mentors to other facilities.

Hospital winners were:

Nursing Home Quality Awards

Nursing Home Quality Awards were given to nursing homes that improved in areas such as pressure ulcer prevention and treatment, restraint use, chronic pain management and depression management. Facilities were eligible for three types of awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” and “Innovator.” Results for “Best Achievement” and “Most Improved” were determined based on quality of care data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Innovator Awards were presented to nursing homes that demonstrated a system change that resulted in improved processes and outcomes. The home must have served as a mentor to other facilities in implementing similar changes.

Nursing home winners were:

Physician Office Quality Award

Physician offices were eligible for three types of Quality Awards: “Quality Achievement,” “Cultural Competency,” and “Innovator.” Quality Achievement Awards were presented to physician offices that demonstrated the use of an electronic health record system or disease registry to produce a computer-generated report on at least one of AFMC’s outpatient quality improvement projects: adult immunization, antibiotic resistance, asthma, breast cancer prevention, chlamydia, diabetes, prenatal care or well child screening.
Cultural Competency Awards were presented to physician offices that completed at least two sections of the federal Office of Minority Health’s curriculum to decrease healthcare disparities.
Innovator Awards were presented to physician offices that shared innovative and successful strategies with their peers and acted as mentors to other facilities.

Physician office winners were:

For detailed information about award requirements, contact AFMC’s Health Care Quality Improvement Program team at 1-877-375-5700.

For over 30 years, through utilization review, quality improvement projects, and public education, the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care has worked to improve the health of Arkansans. Our mission statement: To promote excellence in health care through evaluation and education. Visit our online newsroom at www.afmc.org/media.

Dr. Nick Paslidis, AFMC's CEO and President