September 22, 2011
CHICAGO, Ill – The Ohio State University Medical Center is one of 10 academic medical centers in the nation delivering the highest quality of care based on results of a study commissioned by the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC).
In recognition, Ohio State Medical Center is the recipient of the 2011 UHC Quality Leadership Award. The award is given to academic medical centers that demonstrate excellence in delivering high-quality care as measured by a Quality & Accountability Study, which UHC has commissioned annually since 2005. Ohio State ranked 9th nationwide in the 2011 survey.
"Ohio State has earned a place among distinguished company in the UHC top 10," said Dr. Steven Gabbe, CEO of OSU Medical Center.
"Academic medical centers are increasingly challenged to be the nation's leaders for quality care," he said. "Based on analyses during 2010, our inpatient mortality rate was 30 percent better than the national average for the types of patients we treat. That means many patients were sent home to their families who in all probability would not have survived had they been treated at most other hospitals in the country."
The UHC survey included more than 100 academic medical centers and health systems in the United States.
Using the Institute of Medicine's six domains of health care quality-- mortality, effectiveness, safety, equity, patient centeredness, and efficiency -- the study identifies and evaluates the structures and processes associated with high performance in quality and safety across a broad spectrum of patient care activity.
Others in the top 10 are the University of Colorado Hospital, University of Kansas Hospital Authority, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, UC San Diego Health System, Denver Health, University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, Beaumont Health System (Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak) and Emory Healthcare.
"The efforts of these 10 hospitals in improving patient care and operational effectiveness distinguish them as leaders," said Irene M. Thompson, UHC president and chief executive officer. "Being named a UHC Quality Leadership Award winner is a testament to everyone at the hospital—from the executives and board members to the physicians to the nurses and support staff. Earning this distinction is truly a team effort."
UHC's Quality & Accountability Study was designed to help academic medical centers identify structures and processes associated with high performance in quality and safety across a broad spectrum of patient care activity.
UHC, based in Chicago, is an alliance of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers that shares comparative data and analytics and support for performance improvement, supply chain management and strategic research. UHC's membership includes more than 90 percent of the nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States.
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Contact: David Crawford, OSU Medical Center Public Affairs and Media Relations, 614-293-3737, or Crawford.1@osu.edu