2011 Annual Report
Report to Our Communities
2011 Annual Report
Report to Our Communities
The Integrated Healthcare Association honored five physician organizations within the Sutter Medical Network for improving the quality and affordability of medical care. Honors went to:
A medical team with Sutter-affiliated Palo Alto Medical Foundation restored the seriously injured shoulder of a hang gliding legend.
Four physician organizations within Sutter Medical Network received "elite" or "commendable" ratings from the California Association of Physician Groups in an annual Standards of Excellence survey. This survey evaluates how effectively a medical group delivers high-quality affordable care and a positive patient experience. The following groups earned highest ratings:
Gould Medical Group (GMG) received the 2011 Acclaim Award from the American Medical Group Association. One of just four medical groups nationwide singled out for this honor, GMG has significantly improved patient satisfaction and clinical quality. The award honors physician-directed organizations nationwide for their work to make health care safer, more reliable, more responsive, more integrated and more readily available for patients.
The California Department of Managed Health Care honored Gould Medical Group and Palo Alto Medical Foundation's Mills-Peninsula Division for excellence in helping patients manage high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
Palo Alto Medical Foundation's cancer treatment program became one of the nation's first to meet the rigorous standards of the new Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program. Through QOPI, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recognizes oncology practices for excellent patient care.
Three Sutter-affiliated care facilities—Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, California Pacific Medical Center and Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento—landed on U.S. News & World Report's regional "top hospital" list. These hospitals received high peer ratings for care excellence in selected medical specialties, including cancer; ear, nose & throat; gynecology; gastroenterology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics and urology.
Mills-Peninsula Health Services was ranked among the top 65 hospitals in the nation for quality patient care. The rating came from The Leapfrog Group, a consortium of large employers that challenges health care providers to make significant "leaps" in health care safety, quality and customer value.
Six Sutter-affiliated hospitals received "top performer" ratings on key quality measures from The Joint Commission. The commission serves as the nation's leading accrediting agency for health care organizations. Our hospitals earned honors for evidence-based treatment approaches to heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and children's asthma, among other conditions. "Top performers" included:
The Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute's Heart Failure Clinic, located in Sacramento, became the first program in the nation to receive Joint Commission certification under new heart-failure treatment standards. The new standards require medical teams to safely and successfully transition heart-failure patients from hospital care to outpatient care.
Eight of our affiliated hospitals earned a "Certificate of Excellence" from the California Hospital Assessment and Reporting Task Force (CHART). Every year, CHART recognizes outstanding performance in 50 health care quality categories among California hospitals. In 2011, only 29 hospitals in the state received CHART awards. Hospitals honored within Sutter Health were:
Thomson Reuters, a nationally recognized research company, named Sutter Davis Hospital one of the top 100 hospitals in the nation, based on organizational performance. In California, only three other hospitals landed on this list. This marks the second time for Sutter Davis Hospital to receive this prestigious honor. In addition, for the second year in a row, Sutter Davis was honored by the California Council on Performance Excellence for innovation, service and performance excellence.
For the 10th consecutive year, the National Research Corporation honored Sutter-affiliated Memorial Medical Center in Modesto with the Consumer Choice Award. The hospital's Acute Multi Care Unit (AMCU) also received the Beacon Award for Excellence, Gold Status, from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). The award comes after a nearly three-year period of rigorously evaluating and improving processes in the unit, based on multiple measures.
Leaders within our network of care received 2011 Health Care Heroes awards from regional Business Journal publications. Our professionals earned this distinction for outstanding leadership, groundbreaking innovations and patient-centered care.
For three years in a row, MyLifeStages.org—our interactive website for women—won a gold award for "Best Interactive Consumer Site," as part of the annual eHealthcare Leadership Awards. MyLifeStages features a variety of online health and wellness resources and tools, including an "Ask the Expert" column, plus videos, blogs, quizzes, articles and listings of community health classes.
