Southern Ohio Medical Center was recently honored with a “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. Calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s nine-member Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 26 measures of publicly available safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors. For a complete article please click SOMC Awarded a “A” for Patient Safety.
What is The Joint Commission?
The operation of SOMC follows guidelines of The Joint Commission, the nation’s predominant standards-setting body in health care, and SOMC has received top honors from that organization for meeting standards. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. It is an independent, not-for-profit organization. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards.
What is Hospital Compare?
Hospital Compare was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in order to help you make decisions about where you get your healthcare. Hospital Compare has information about the quality of care at over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals across the country. By publicly displaying each hospital’s quality data, it also encourages hospitals to improve the quality of care they provide. At SOMC, we are proud of the quality that we provide to our community, and we encourage you to examine our quality results and compare us to our competitors when making decisions about your healthcare needs.
What information is available on Hospital Compare?
Hospital Compare offers a “snapshot” of quality for hospitals in your area on the following aspects of healthcare:
- Overall Hospital Rating: A summary score expressed in stars, where higher is better, across 7 areas of quality.
- Timely and Effective Care: How often and how quickly each hospital gives recommended treatments for certain conditions like heart attack, sepsis, and emergency department care.
- Readmissions, Complications and Deaths:
- How each hospital’s 30-day readmission and mortality (death) rates for certain conditions compare with the national rate.
- How likely it is that patients will suffer from complications while in the hospital.
- How often patients got certain serious conditions while in the hospital, that might have been prevented if the hospital followed procedures based on best practices and scientific evidence.
- Survey of Patients’ Experiences (HCAHPS): How recently-discharged patients responded to a national survey about their hospital experience. For example, how well their hospital’s doctors and nurses communicate with patients and how well they manage their patients’ pain.
- Payment and Value of Care: Measures the cost of care to Medicare beneficiaries.
Click here to find SOMC’s Hospital Compare Results
