Community Hospital earns top accreditation honor

McCOOK, Neb. -- Community Hospital today announced it has been recognized as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures®" by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States. Community Hospital was recognized for its achievement on the measure set of Surgical Care. The hospital is one of 1,224 hospitals in the U.S. to achieve the 2013 Top Performer distinction.

Community Hospital was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2013 calendar year.

This is the second year Community Hospital has been recognized as a Top Performer. Community Hospital was recognized in 2013 for its performance on accountability measure data for Surgical Care during the 2012 calendar year. Community Hospital is one of only 712 hospitals to achieve the Top Performer distinction for the past two consecutive years.

Community Hospital and each of the hospitals that were recognized must:

* achieve cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures;

* achieve performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure

* where there are at least 30 denominator cases; and

* have at least one core measure set that has a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and within that measure set all applicable individual accountability measures have a performance rate of 95 percent or above.

A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice. Examples of an evidence-based practice in Surgical **Care include:

* Antibiotic received within one hour prior to surgical incision

* Antibiotic selection

* Antibiotics stop within 24 hours of surgery end time

* Appropriate hair removal

* Urinary catheter out by post op day one or two

* Temperature management in the operating room

* Beta Blocker therapy management

* Patients who receive appropriate VTE prophylaxis

Studies show patients will have fewer post op infections and better recovery time by implementing and achieving success in following these surgery related processes.

"We are very honored to received this recognition," said Jim Ulrich, Community Hospital President & CEO. "It represents the dedicated effort of our entire team.

"We also understand that what matters most to patients at Community Hospital is the quality and safety of the care they receive. That is why we have made it a top priority to improve positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes," he added.

For more information about the Top Performer program, visit http://bit.ly/116blmj