Published: March 23, 2008 12:55 pm            

DRH one of nation’s top 100

Excellence honored for the second time

DUNCAN — Duncan Regional Hospital was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Healthcare, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.

The award recognizes hospitals that have achieved excellence in clinical outcomes, patient safety, financial performance and efficiency. This is the second time DRH has been recognized with this honor.

The 2007 Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success study appears in the March 17 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.

“Providing safe and quality care to our patients while exceeding their expectations is our No. 1 priority. Dedication and vision from our board of directors is the driving force behind our success. The exceptional care and attention to detail from our medical staff and team members makes the difference for our patients. Earning this honorable distinction for the second time reflects our determination to provide the highest standards in healthcare to our community,” said Scott Street, president and CEO of DRH.

Duncan Regional is a progressive, not-for-profit 167-bed nationally accredited facility with a staff of more than 700. Located in southwest Oklahoma, the hospital has unique services such a 12,000-square-foot learning center that offers a variety of nursing degrees from The University of Oklahoma and Western State Oklahoma College.

Also under construction is a Hands on Health Interactive Learning Center for children. This facility is geared toward children in kindergarten through eighth grade to explore, interact and learn about the human body and the many careers in the health care fields.

According to the study, the highest performance levels in patient safety were achieved by the 100 hospitals in the study that delivered the highest balanced performance across quality, efficiency and financial stability. If all hospitals had performed at the level of these leading hospitals on the eight patient safety measures studied, they would have saved $253 million and 7,914 lives during the time period the study examined.

“Employers, health plans and hospitals need to take note that we have entered a new phase in driving transformation of the healthcare industry,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president in the Center for Healthcare Improvement at Thomson Healthcare. “Hospitals setting new levels of patient safety are those with the highest balanced scores across quality, efficiency and financial performance.”

The 15th edition of the Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success study uses a balanced scorecard approach and scores hospitals according to eight key organization-wide measures: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, patient safety composite, average core measures scores, severity-adjusted average length of stay, expense per adjusted discharge, profit from operations, and cash-to-debt ratio.

        

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