October 2, 2015

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) announced The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is among the top-performing academic medical centers that have won the Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award. This award is given to UHC member academic medical centers that demonstrate superior performance as measured by the UHC Quality and Accountability Study, conducted annually since 2005.

“This honor is a testament to our high-performing, dedicated faculty and staff who work together every day to improve people’s lives and provide the best possible care,” said Dr. Sheldon Retchin, executive vice president of health sciences and CEO of Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

This marks the third consecutive year Ohio State Wexner Medical Center has won this quality award. In addition to a top ranking overall, Ohio State earned top 10 rankings in three of six quality measures: mortality, efficiency and equity.

“Our teams continuously focus on increasing efficiencies and value, while providing patients with the highest quality of care,” said Dr. Susan Moffatt-Bruce, chief quality and patient safety officer at Wexner Medical Center. “Initiatives such as the development of care pathways, team-based inter-professional rounding, standardized care bundles in the perioperative arena, and engaging patients and families in setting goals and care decisions contributed to this quality award.”

UHC’s Quality and 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. The award is based on performance measures that reflect the six aims for high quality health care systems as defined by the Institute of Medicine:

  • Safe Care: Avoiding harm to patients.
  • Effective Care: Providing appropriate services to patients based on scientific knowledge, and avoiding services to those not likely to benefit.
  • Patient-centered Care: Providing care that is respectful and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values.
  • Timely Care: Reducing waits and delays for patients.
  • Efficient Care: Avoiding waste.
  • Equitable Care: Providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal patient characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status.

This year, 102 UHC member institutions participated in the analysis, which used performance data from a variety of sources, including the UHC Clinical Data Base/Resource Manager, the UHC Core Measures Data Base, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network. The study is considered an important benchmark among university hospitals.

The award was renamed in honor of Bernard “Bernie” Birnbaum, MD, a noted health care leader and former member of the UHC Member Board of Directors. Birnbaum, who served as the senior vice president and vice dean, chief of hospital operations, for NYU Langone Medical Center, died on Sept. 14.

The 13 academic medical centers recognized with this award are:

  • NYU Langone Medical Center
  • Rush University Medical Center
  • Mayo Clinic Hospital - Rochester
  • Emory University Hospital
  • Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital
  • University of Colorado Hospital (UCHealth)
  • University of Utah Health Care
  • Houston Methodist Hospital
  • The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
  • Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
  • Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak
  • Tufts Medical Center
  • The University of Kansas Hospital Authority

The award winners were announced at the UHC Annual Conference 2015 in Orlando, Fla.

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Media Contact: Marti Leitch
Wexner Medical Center Media Relations
614-293-3737

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