Hospital earns three-star ranking

Published Tuesday, October 6, 2009

DEMOPOLIS — Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital has received a three-star ranking from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama in recognition of the facility’s infection prevention program. The information became public in July when BCBS posted the ranking on its Web site, www.bcbsal.org.

“This reflects our organization-wide commitment to reducing hospital-acquired infection which has been a focus of this hospital for many years,” said Mike Marshall, the chief executive officer and administrator of the hospital. “It’s remarkable to note that even though our surgical volume has doubled over the past four years, our infection rate is half of what it was four years ago.”

The ranking is based on information voluntarily submitted to the Alabama Hospital Quality Initiative (AHQI). Through AHQI, hospitals in the state are working to create a statewide path to transparency and collaboration for quality improvement.

“We self-report this information,” said Marshall. “It’s not a requirement, but it’s something we feel very strongly about as we work to improve the quality of patient care in our facility.”

Also noted on the Web site is the hospital’s status as a Tier 1 hospital and a three-star ranking for patient satisfaction.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama has developed a tiered network of hospitals within the state of Alabama. Hospitals are categorized into one of three tiers, based on their performance in three primary areas of interest.

Hospitals designated as Tier 1 are recognized as having attained the highest level of compliance across the areas of quality awareness, patient safety awareness and financial awareness.

The patient satisfaction ranking comes from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), a national standardized survey of hospital patients. HCAHPS asks a random sample of recently discharged patients about important aspects of their hospital experience.

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