Boise – Nine Idaho healthcare organizations today received a Qualis Health Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality. The organizations are St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Home Health in Lewiston, SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for McCall, the Idaho Hospital Association in Boise, Blue Cross of Idaho in Meridian, Boise Samaritan Village in Boise, Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry, Saint Alphonsus Medical Group in Boise, Horizon Home Health & Hospice in Meridian, and St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Boise.
The awards were given in recognition of outstanding work to improve healthcare during 2004. The nine organizations received award plaques during a ceremony at the 6th Annual Idaho Conference on Healthcare Quality Improvement, being held April 12 and 13 in Boise. Both the conference and awards program were sponsored by Qualis Health, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Idaho.
“Many healthcare providers were nominated for the Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality, and many seem to be doing good work to improve the quality of care in Idaho,” said Patty Mahrt, RN, MS, MBA, the director of the awards program as well as the director of Medicare operations for Qualis Health’s Boise office. “Although choosing the award winners was not easy, the committee judging the nominations felt that the truly outstanding work done by these nine organizations deserved special recognition.”
Nominations for the awards had been submitted by Idaho healthcare providers in February. The nominations were evaluated by a group of seven judges, including representatives of healthcare professional groups and trade associations. Each nomination was independently scored on a 100-point scale, and then scores were averaged.
St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Home Health won the Award of Excellence for its efforts to improve the management of oral medications. SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for McCall was recognized for its innovative team approach to implementing a Resident Care Management System and effectively training staff to successfully use the system in order to provide quality care for its residents. The Idaho Hospital Association received an award for its successful efforts to maintain a web-based reporting system, supporting small, rural hospitals in their performance improvement activities. Blue Cross of Idaho was recognized for its successful efforts to implement a Diabetes Disease Management Program to reduce acute and long-term complications for both diabetes and patients with metabolic syndrome.
Boise Samaritan Village received an award for its creative approach to culture change by including residents in the decision-making and preparation of meal-time menus. Boundary Community Hospital was recognized for its development of a community Web site to collect and track immunization information, ensuring that all eligible persons receive pneumococcal vaccinations. Saint Alphonsus Medical Group received an award for its successful efforts to implement a sustainable performance improvement program that enhances quality of care, operational efficiency, and patient satisfaction. Horizon Home Health & Hospice was recognized for its innovative efforts to place telemonitors in the homes of patients with chronic conditions, minimizing the need for expensive hospitalization. St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center received an award for its quality improvement activities focused on mechanical ventilator patients in adult critical care.
Qualis Health sponsored both the conference and awards program.
