Recognizing Excellence
Awards and recognition are only important because of what they mean for our patients
REGIONAL PERFORMANCE
As one of the leading healthcare providers in the Intermountain region, Intermountain Healthcare contributes to our area’s performance in providing high-quality, affordable healthcare. Below are some current metrics that reflect well on the organizations involved in the delivery and financing of healthcare in our region:
- Utah is lowest in the nation in healthcare costs (CMS, 1991-2009 data).
- Utah is best in the nation in Avoidable Hospital Use and Costs (Commonwealth Fund, 2009 Scorecard).
- Utah is lowest in the nation in terms of infant mortality (Commonwealth Fund, 2009 Scorecard).
- Utah is second-lowest in the nation in terms of “Mortality Amenable to Healthcare” (Commonwealth Fund, 2009 Scorecard).
- Three metropolitan areas in Utah—Ogden, Salt Lake, and Provo—are in the lowest fourth percentile in the U.S. in terms of healthcare costs, and Ogden is in the lowest first percentile (Thomson Reuters, 2009 data).
INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTHCARE AS A SYSTEM
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the American Hospital Association recognized Intermountain Healthcare for its leadership in information technology. The award also recognizes Intermountain’s extensive use of data-mining—integrated with decision-support in clinical information systems—to directly improve patient outcomes.
Healthcare IT News ranked Intermountain Healthcare’s Homer Warner Center for Informatics Research as the top place to work in healthcare information technology. The rankings were based on employee feedback and categorized by hospital size. Intermountain Healthcare was in the “Large Hospital” category, which includes hospitals with 351 beds or more. The Homer Warner Center is located at Intermountain Medical Center.
The Gallup Organization has chosen Intermountain Healthcare as one of 29 companies worldwide—and the only organization in Utah—to earn the Gallup Great Workplace Award for 2011. The award recognizes these excellent companies for their extraordinary ability to create an engaged workplace culture.
Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) named Intermountain Healthcare’s Budge Clinic its 2011 Community Partner of the Year. The award highlights the services the two organizations have jointly provided over the last 10 years, supporting families of children with special healthcare needs.
Intermountain Healthcare is again the only Utah healthcare provider named to this year’s Most Wired Hospital list by Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association. Intermountain has been named one of the nation’s most technologically savvy hospital systems in 12 of the 13 years the survey has been conducted.
For the fourth consecutive year, Intermountain Healthcare has been selected by Computerworld magazine as one of the top workplaces for information technology (IT) professionals. Intermountain was the only organization in Utah named in the survey.
Gartner, Inc., a Connecticut-based information technology research and consulting group, ranked Intermountain’s Supply Chain Organization among the best in the nation. In its annual “Healthcare Supply Chain Top 25,” Gartner placed Intermountain seventh. Intermountain was one of only six provider systems named in the ranking. Others in the top 10 include Mayo Clinic, Johnson & Johnson, and Geisinger Health System. Intermountain Healthcare’s Supply Chain Organization joined Geisinger Health System, Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, and Mercy in a collaborative to facilitate the adoption of data standards that will allow medical devices to be better identified and tracked. This will allow for better adverse event reporting and recall management—ultimately resulting in improved patient safety.
Intermountain Homecare is Utah’s only full service nonprofit home health provider.
HOSPITAL RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
LDS Hospital was designated a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery. The hospital is also a BlueCross BlueShield “Blue Distinction Center” and the only hospital in Utah designated a United Healthcare Center of Excellence for bariatrics.
McKay-Dee Hospital Center was named one of the 20 Most Beautiful Hospitals in the United States by Soliant Health, a leading nationwide healthcare staffing provider.
Intermountain Healthcare’s Riverton Hospital was designated a Stroke Receiving Facility by the Utah State Department of Health and Utah Hospital Association. The designation recognizes Riverton for having procedures, equipment, and protocols in place to provide time-critical emergency stroke care.
Dixie Regional Medical Center was included on Cleverly + Associates’ Community Value Index Top 100 hospitals list. The index is composed of ten measures that assess a hospital’s performance in four areas: financial viability and plant reinvestment, hospital cost structure, hospital charge structure, and hospital quality performance.
HealthInsight recognized several Intermountain Healthcare hospitals for providing quality healthcare: Bear River Valley Hospital; Fillmore Community Medical Center; The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH); and Orem Community Hospital. HealthInsight Quality Award recipients are selected for demonstrating high-quality healthcare and excellence in performance on a combination of publicly reported clinical quality and patient satisfaction measures.
Utah Valley Regional Medical Center was recognized as a United Healthcare Cardiac Center of Excellence.
Intermountain Medical Center was the first hospital in Utah to receive advanced certification in the treatment of heart failure—a disease that affects more than six million people nationwide. The Joint Commission hospital accreditation agency created the advanced certification program
With hospitals, physician clinics, health plans, home health agencies and other services, Intermountain seeks to provide a seamless continuum of care.
based on the American Heart Association’s “Get With the Guidelines” campaign, which provides clinical practice guidelines related to assessment, monitoring, management and performance improvement of heart failure care across inpatient and outpatient settings.
The following Intermountain Healthcare hospitals were honored by the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program for their treatment of heart failure. American Fork Hospital received the Silver Quality Achievement Award. Utah Valley Regional Medical Center and Dixie Regional Medical Center received the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals list included American Fork Hospital among its honorees in the Small Community Hospital category. The study evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average patient stay, expenses, profitability, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, post-discharge mortality and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, and pneumonia.
Several Intermountain hospitals were recognized for excellence in healthcare delivery by U.S. News and World Report in the magazine’s annual “Best Hospitals” ranking. They include:
- Dixie Regional Medical Center. Listed as a “High Performing” hospital in Pulmonology.
- Intermountain Medical Center. Listed as a “High Performing” hospital in Cardiology and Heart Surgery; Diabetes and Endocrinology; Gastroenterology; Geriatrics; Gynecology; Nephrology; Pulmonology; and Urology.
- LDS Hospital. Listed as a “High Performing” hospital in Gastroenterology; Geriatrics; Gynecology; Nephrology; and Pulmonology.
- McKay-Dee Hospital Center. Listed as a “High Performing” hospital in Gastroenterology; Nephrology; Pulmonology; and Urology.
- Primary Children’s Medical Center. Nationally ranked in Cancer (38th); Cardiology and Heart Surgery (31st); Gastroenterology (32nd); Neonatology (49th); Nephrology (35th); Neurology and Neurosurgery (6th); and Orthopedics (32nd).
- Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Listed as a “High Performing” hospital in Gastroenterology; Geriatrics; Gynecology; Nephrology; Pulmonology; and Urology. The hospital was also ranked No. 1 in the Provo metro area.
- Valley View Medical Center was awarded the Quality Respiratory Care Recognition by the American Association for Respiratory Care. The hospital has received the award every year since 2006.
- Thomson Reuters named Dixie Regional Medical Center as one of the top 50 cardiovascular hospitals in the nation. It is the fourth year in a row that the St. George medical facility has been placed on the list.
SelectHealth
SelectHealth was again ranked Utah’s top HMO health plan, according to NCQA’s Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings, 2011-2012. NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance)
evaluated nearly 500 private health plans and ranked them based on clinical performance, member satisfaction, and NCQA accreditation.
Key Events in 2011
Intermountain began to develop its Shared Accountability approach, which aims to position Intermountain and its affiliates for ongoing success in providing excellent healthcare. The initiative seeks to optimize quality, enhance the health of patients and health plan members, and reduce the rate of cost increases to a rate closer to general inflation. To accomplish these goals, Intermountain is intensifying its focus on quality and strengthening its Clinical Programs and Services. It’s also enhancing its wellness, prevention, and care management programs and engaging patients more in decisions about their care. In addition, it’s seeking better alignment of financial incentives so that all parties involved in healthcare are encouraged to work together to achieve excellent care at a sustainable cost. The Shared Accountability strategy will be developed and implemented over the next five years.
The Homer Warner Center for Informatics Research opened at the Intermountain Medical Center campus in February. In the 1970s, Dr. Homer C. Warner and his Intermountain colleagues created one of the nation’s first versions of an electronic medical record and decision-support system. Their work helped establish Intermountain Healthcare as a leader in healthcare information technology.
Intermountain Healthcare launched its Life Flight medical helicopter service at Dixie Regional Medical Center. The program was funded partially by community donations.
Intermountain Healthcare’s Deseret Foundation changed its name to the Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation to more accurately reflect its function and focus.
Valley View Medical Center broke ground on a 5,000-square-foot expansion of its cancer center. The center will be complete in 2012.
TOSH, The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, celebrated 20 years of service. TOSH began as a small, stand-alone facility in 1991 on the Cottonwood Hospital campus.
Intermountain Healthcare was chosen to lead a group of seven health systems contracted to develop and share best practices in clinical quality and patient safety. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded the $2.7 million contract as part of its Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Networks initiative. The aim is to make healthcare safer and less costly by targeting and reducing preventable injuries and complications to patients. Other participants include the Mayo Clinic, Baylor Health Care System, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Denver Health, Providence Health & Services, and the Salt Lake City Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.
Intermountain Healthcare’s liver transplant program (now based at Intermountain Medical Center) marked its 25th anniversary.
The High Value Healthcare Collaborative continued its work in 2011. Established in late 2010 by the Mayo Clinic, Denver Health, Intermountain Healthcare, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Cleveland Clinic, and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, the Collaborative aims to improve healthcare, reduce costs, and move best practices out to the national provider community. The Collaborative also includes Baylor Health Care System, Beaumont Hospitals, MaineHealth, Providence Health and Services, Scott & White Health Care, Sutter Health, UCLA Health System, University of Iowa Health Care, and Virginia Mason Medical Center. The group shares care pathways, costs, and outcomes data with their partners and the public as they adopt best practices and new, expanded standards of measurement.
The Central Laboratory at Intermountain Medical Center celebrated its five-year anniversary. The lab serves all of Intermountain’s 22 hospitals and many of its clinics, along with 1,400 physician offices across Utah.
In 2011, Intermountain Healthcare established a new base for its Life Flight air medical service at Dixie Regional Medical Center.