Hospitals are leading the way in healthcare in being transparent about the quality of care they provide. They are now sharing with the public information about patients’ experience of care – from communication with the doctors and nursing staff to the cleanliness and quietness of the hospital environment.

It’s called HCAHPS – and it’s information about hospitals, provided by hospitals, for the consumer.

Apples-to-apples comparison of patients’ experiences at hospitals in our community and across the nation is now available at the Hospital Quality Alliance’s website at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Another resource for quality comparisons of hospitals can be found in the Maryland Health Care Commission's Maryland Hospital Performance Evaluation Guide.

Wound Care Center of Excellence Award:

Atlantic General Hospital’s Wound Care Center has been named a Center of Excellence by Diversified Clinical Services after receiving a second Center of Distinction Award for delivering outstanding results for twelve consecutive months in 2009. Atlantic General delivered healing outcomes far above the Diversified national benchmarks. The healing rate at Atlantic General’s Wound Care Center for 2009 was 95 percent, compared to the national benchmark of 79.5 percent. Atlantic General cut the benchmark for time required to heal a wound nearly in half with a median of 27 days to heal. Consequently, their patient satisfaction score is 97.1 percent, six points above the national benchmark set forth by Diversified.  Diversified names only nine percent of its wound care centers as Centers of Excellence.

Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award

The American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award was awarded to Atlantic General Hospital at the association’s International Stroke Conference 2010.  The award recognizes Atlantic General’s commitment and success in implementing a high standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to evidence-based guidelines. To receive the award, Atlantic General needed to achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines–Stroke achievement indicators for at least 12 months consecutive months.  In fact, the hospital achieved between 91 and 100 percent on all indicators. Achievement indicators are evidence-based treatments known to result in improved patient outcomes.  They include appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including clot-busting and anti-clotting medications, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.

All hospitals in Maryland and Washington DC are eligible for the Delmarva Foundation’s Excellence Award for Quality Improvement.  Atlantic General is the third hospital to receive the 2010 award. The Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award for Quality Improvement recognizes individual hospital performance improvement in four national inpatient clinical areas: acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, surgical care, and pneumonia. For several years, the clinical team at Atlantic General has been working toward sustained compliance of 90 percent or greater with the Delmarva Foundation’s 15 key measures. In September 2009, the hospital’s Performance Improvement Team was formally established to undertake these goals and subsequently push them another step: to maintain at least 90 percent compliance with a total of 24 quality measures. Atlantic General Hospital met these goals in the top 10 percent of the nation.