The joint venture uniting Baptist Health System and Brookwood Medical Center announced that three of its hospitals, Princeton (Birmingham), Shelby (Alabaster) and Walker (Jasper) Baptist Medical Centers, have been recognized as a 2014 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States.
“Receiving this distinction from The Joint Commission is a testament to the positive steps these hospitals are taking each day as we continue to grow and advance in the healthcare industry,” said Keith Parrott, CEO of the newly formed health system.
The Top Performer program recognizes hospitals for improving performance on evidence-based interventions that increase the chances of healthy outcomes for patients.
Princeton, Shelby and Walker have been recognized for attaining excellence in accountability measure performance for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care. In addition, Princeton and Shelby received recognition for their accomplishments in stroke. Princeton also received recognition for its accomplishment in immunization, and Walker received recognition in VTE.
Baptist Brings Primary Care to the workplace with Be Well Mobile
As part of the Baptist Health System Be Well program, Baptist has added a new unit, the Be Well Mobile, a 38-foot, custom-built Winnebago, designed to serve as a traveling primary care clinic for employers across central Alabama.
The Be Well Mobile will allow employers to provide employees with access to a clinic, equipped with a physician and nurse, which will visit their worksite and provide on-site preventive care and follow-up treatment for employees with both chronic conditions and acute illnesses.
The mobile clinic includes a check-in area, lab station, two examination rooms, and state-of-the-art wireless technologies.
“We designed Be Well Mobile with the busy employee in mind,” said Anne-Laura Cook, MD, medical director of population health management at Baptist Health Centers and director of Be Well. “We provide everything a patient would receive from a primary care clinic. From sore throats and flu, to annual exams and follow-up visits for diabetes, the new unit offers us the capabilities to help keep employees healthy and solves the problem of having to take time off work to visit the doctor.”
Grandview Physicians Plaza Opens
Daniel Corporation has completed construction and opening of Grandview Physicians Plaza, a 207,000 square- foot class A medical office building located adjacent to the new Grandview Medical Center.
“The opening of Grandview Physicians Plaza is a perfect complement to Grandview Medical Center,” commented Daniel Senior Vice President, Jim Adams. “The building offers the highest quality medical office space available in the region and provides immediate access to the hospital.”
In addition to Grandview Physicians Plaza, future planned development within the 103-acre Cahaba Center at Grandview includes additional medical office, commercial (retail), hospitality, and office space.
Volunteer Honored
Jane Pearson, a volunteer with Princeton Baptist Medical Center, was recently honored by the Alabama Hospital Association as its 2015 Outstanding Auxilian. The award is given to one volunteer statewide each year for exemplary volunteer service.
Glenn Sisk, chairman of the Alabama Hospital Association and president of Coosa Valley Medical Center, presented the award noting Ms. Pearson’s compassion and servant heart.
Ms. Pearson has volunteered for 28 years logging in more than 14,000 hours. She has served as president of her local auxiliary for four terms, along with serving in several other capacities on the board. Under her leadership, the auxiliary has raised over one million dollars for the hospital.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama’s Medicare Advantage Plan Receives Four-Star Rating
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama’s Blue Advantage PPO Plan, a Medicare Advantage Plan, is the only statewide plan in Alabama to receive a four-star quality rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
CMS uses a five-star system to measure the quality and performance of Medicare Advantage health and prescription drug plans that relies on more than 40 metrics, including member health, management of chronic conditions, plan responsiveness, prescription drug safety, and accuracy of drug pricing.
“We are honored to receive this recognition because it further validates our ongoing commitment to our Medicare members to consistently deliver a quality experience,” said Dow Briggs, MD, Chief Business Officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
Blue Cross will continue to offer a variety of additional services in 2016 to Blue Advantage members at affordable prices:
• Healthway’s SilverSneakers Fitness Program
• Beltone Hearing Discount Program
• AirMed Transport Services and Assistance
• 24-hour Nurseline
• Supplemental Vision and Hearing Benefits
Pediatricians Attain Performance Improvement CME
The Alabama Child Health Improvement Alliance, in partnership with the UAB Division of eLearning and Professional Studies and the UAB Division of Continuing Medical Education, has become the first organization in Alabama to offer performance improvement continuing medical education for practice-based physicians through its Help Me Grow/Project.
Unlike CME lectures, PI CME-approved activities are based on a learner’s participation in a three-stage project in which a physician: identifies an education need through a measure of her performance in practice; engages in education experiences to meet the need; integrates learning into patient care; and re-evaluates her performance.
ACHIA, which helps pediatric providers improve child health quality, recently developed an online quality improvement, or QI, collaborative that allows practice-based pediatricians and their nursing staffs earn 20 CME credits as they abstract and review data, hold practice QI meetings, perform PI activities, and make practice changes to increase rates of developmental screening and referral of children with developmental delays.
St. Vincent’s One Nineteen Thanks Community with Acts of Kindness
St. Vincent’s One Nineteen recently spread more than 500 acts of kindness across Shelby County as a thank you to the community for naming the facility Shelby Living’s Best of the Best again in the following categories: Facial, Fitness Center, Massage, Spa, and Yoga.
The facility enjoyed purchasing coffees and smoothies at Ground Up Coffee and Smoothies; handing out St. Vincent’s Spa One Nineteen gift cards to local teachers; purchasing breakfast at Chick-fil-A; giving meals and a quick personal training workout to firemen; handing out water infusion bottles to people at One Nineteen; tying balloons on residents’ doors at Somerby; and buying lunches at Davis Drug Snack Bar.
Kassouf & Co. Earns Top 300 Accounting Firm Distinction
Kassouf & Co. has been recognized by INSIDE Public Accounting’s (IPA) first-ever Top 300 accounting firms for 2015.
“We are honored to receive this recognition in its inaugural year,” said Gerard Kassouf, managing director of Kassouf & Co. “This recognition would not be possible without our talented and dedicated staff who work hard to provide excellent service to our valued clients. It’s the relationship between our staff and clients that motivates us to be successful.”
For the most recent fiscal year, IPA 300 firms range in size from $7.7 million to $15 million, and from 25 to 120 staff. These firms employ more than 6,700 total staff across the nation. For more than 25 years, IPA has sustained a tradition of groundbreaking excellence by compiling the annual IPA Top 100 and Top 200 accounting firms and the IPA Best of the Best.
Grandview Medical Center Earns Top Performer on Key Quality Measures®
Grandview Medical Center has been recognized as a 2014 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States. This is the fourth year the hospital has been recognized as a Top Performer.
Grandview was recognized for attaining excellence in accountability measure performance for Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Pneumonia, Surgical Care and Immunization. Grandview is one of only 1,043 hospitals out of more than 3,300 eligible hospitals in the United States to achieve the 2014 Top Performer distinction.
“We understand what matters most to patients is the quality and safety of the care they receive. That is why we have made it a top priority to achieve positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes,” said Keith Granger, President and CEO of Grandview Medical Center.
DCH Foundation Grants
The DCH Foundation recently awarded more than $100,000 in internal grants to departments at DCH Regional Medical Center and Northport Medical Center for the 2015/2016 fiscal year.
Grant proceeds were provided by unrestricted donations from the DCH Volunteer Auxiliary, “We Give” Employee Giving Program and community donations.
DCH Regional Medical Center and Northport Medical Center departments were invited to apply for a grant up to $10,000 for supplies, equipment and other items. A committee of nine employees who participate in the “We Give” employee giving program and one volunteer reviewed grant applications and made recommendations to The DCH Foundation Board for the awards.
UAB Nursing Student’s Set Record Licensure Pass Rate
Students from the UAB School of Nursing have long been among the nation’s best at passing the National Council Licensure Examination on their first try, but in 2015 the school’s bar of success in that category rose.
For the period from Oct. 1, 2014, through Sept. 30, 2015, 95.7 percent of the 231 graduates of the school passed the NCLEX their first time, making UAB’s the most successful nursing program of its size in the state of Alabama over that period.
The stellar first-time pass rate of its Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and Accelerated Master’s in Nursing Pathway program graduates placed well above the state average of 84.6 percent and the national average of 84.2 percent.
Brookwood Earns A Grade by Hospital Safety Score
The Leapfrog Group has recognized Brookwood Medical Center is one of the two hospitals in Birmingham to earn an A in the Hospital Safety Score which is the first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the Journal of Patient Safety, and is free to the public.
