Five Emory hospitals have been named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Core Measures Honor Roll.
Emory’s Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital was one of 17 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Chairman’s category, the highest on the list. Emory Johns Creek Hospital was one of 18 hospitals named to the Honor Roll in the Presidential category. Emory University Hospital and Emory University Hospital Midtown were two of only 26 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Trustee category. Also in the trustee category was Emory Adventist Hospital, jointly owned with Adventist Health System.
“This is a great accomplishment for Emory Healthcare and its hospitals,” says Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “This recognition further underscores the commitment of the staff at Emory University Hospital, Emory Johns Creek, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Wesley Woods Hospital, and Emory Adventist Hospital to ensuring that every patient receives the best, most effective health care possible.”
Hospitals are required to submit care data to CMS, which details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) core measures. These measures are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for surgical patients and patients who have suffered heart attacks, pneumonia and heart failure.
For instance, a recommended treatment to help prevent a heart attack is to take aspirin either before or upon arrival at the hospital, as well as at discharge. A suggested treatment for pneumonia is to administer an antibiotic within four hours of a patient’s arrival. It is recommended that surgery patients are given an antibiotic one hour prior to surgery to prevent infection. The VBP core measure is a composite measure that determines whether or not a patient received the right care at the right time. A hospital’s adherence to these recommended clinical practices usually leads to better outcomes.
“It is our mission to ensure that each of our patients receives the right care at the right time, and this recognition validates our efforts,” said John T. Fox, president and CEO of Emory Healthcare. “This honor is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff who are constantly working to make excellent care even better.”
About PHA
The Partnership for Health and Accountability, formed in January 2000 and sponsored by the Georgia Hospital Association, is a unique statewide collaborative that brings together health care providers with community agencies and individuals to achieve healthy communities. PHA includes representation from groups like hospitals, physicians, state health officials, legislators and businesses.