Local Hospital Receives TMF Hospital Quality Improvement Award
Groesbeck Texas (April 24, 2019) – Limestone Medical Center has received the TMF Hospital Quality Improvement Silver Award from TMF® Health Quality Institute. The TMF Hospital Quality Improvement Award program is sponsored by TMF, the Arkansas Hospital Association, Oklahoma Hospital Association, Oklahoma State Office of Rural Health, Texas Hospital Association and Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. It recognizes hospitals in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas that have undertaken quality initiatives to improve outcomes in patient care and improve their performance on specific national quality measures. This program was established in 2004 as a non-competitive recognition program designed to identify exemplary outcomes achieved by hospitals.
The 2018 TMF Hospital Quality Improvement Award program is based on achievements in 2016 and 2017. It honors hospitals that are performing quality initiatives aimed at improving outcomes in patient care by recognizing those hospitals that have improved their performance on specific national quality measures.
“We are proud to have achieved this recognition. Our success illustrates our commitment to patient safety and to delivering quality health care,” said Larry Price, Chief Executive Officer. “It was a significant amount of work, but well worth it because it was the right thing to do for our patients.”
Out of 557 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS or Acute Care) Hospitals and 188 Critical Access Hospitals (CAH), 51 earned the TMF Hospital Quality Improvement Gold Award. The Silver Award went to 50 hospitals, and 51 hospitals earned the Bronze Award.
“TMF is proud to recognize these hospitals for promoting quality improvement activities and their senior management for promoting a quality culture,” said Tom Manley, CEO of TMF Health Quality Institute. “Quality improvement is a complex and demanding process, and we thank Limestone Medical Center for their commitment to improving the health of patients and the efficiency of health care.”
“Proven standards of care can save lives,” said Price. “We will continue to enhance our quality improvement efforts through our collaboration with partners and with TMF Health Quality Institute to ensure that every person gets the right care at the right time, every time.”
Critical Access Hospitals or IPPS Hospitals Ineligible for VBP
The evaluation for IPPS hospitals not eligible for VBP was based on the Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR), as well as Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) measures and readmission rates.
Silver Award winners had to report at least one measure set for both IQR and OQR programs during the hospital award measurement period (Q2 2016 through Q3 2017) and attain a 15-percent relative improvement from baseline to re-measurement period for readmissions, or an absolute readmissions rate of 5 percent or less.
For more information on the awards program, see the TMF Health Quality Institute awards website at https://award.tmf.org.
