South Texas Regional Named Top Performing Hospital in Texas for Surgical Care Improvement Project

JOURDANTON, TX (JUNE 11, 2009)—TMF Health Quality Institute named South Texas Regional Medical Center (STRMC) as being one of the top performing hospitals in Texas for the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures for discharges of January 1 to December 31, 2008.

SCIP Quality Indicators

Quality indicators/measures are based on scientific evidence and can reflect guidelines, standards of care or practice parameters. They convert medical information from patient records into a rate or percentage for consumers to use in comparing care at different hospitals and for hospitals to use in comparing their care with state and national benchmarks. Several SCIP quality indicators serve as progress and performance measures for this project.

The significance of this achievement to the community of Atascosa County and the patients STRMC serves translates into a clearly defined measure of quality.

“We are focused on providing the highest quality care to our patients. The value of the quality improvement data speaks not to the numbers it demonstrates but to people. It reveals professional people demonstrating competent patient care at the right time.” says Rita Castillo, chief quality office for STRMC.

Informed Consumer Healthcare

Nationally, patients are exercising their freedom to become better informed consumers and advocates for their own healthcare. Independent entities such as the TMF Health Quality Institute are making those choices easier through transparent reporting. Danielle Marie Flores, Director of Marketing says, “In its simplest form, the SCIP and other quality measures we receive become each hospital’s report card, placed online for the public to see. STRMC is proud to get an A+ for our SCIP measures.”

STRMC encourages patients and their families to be informed and strong advocates for their healthcare. The hospital applauds efforts to make more quality and infection data available to the public.

About TMF Health Quality Institute

TMF Health Quality Institute, formerly Texas Medical Foundation, is an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit consulting company focused on promoting quality health and health care through contracts with federal, state and local governments, as well as private organizations. TMF partners with health care providers in a variety of settings to ensure that every person receives the appropriate care, every time.

Certifications:

• TMF is certified as an Independent Review Organization under Article 21.58C of the Texas Insurance Code.
• TMF is certified as a Utilization Review Agent under Article 21.58A of the Texas Insurance Code.
• TMF is certified by the Texas Medical Association as a continuing medical education (CME) provider.
• TMF is certified by the Texas Nursing Association as a continuing nursing education (CNE) provider.
• TMF is fully accredited by URAC for compliance with the Health Utilization Management and Independent Review Organization Accreditation Programs.

South Texas Regional Medical Center, a full-service facility, operates 67 licensed beds in the Atascosa County. STRMC employs more than 350 professionals and contributed more than $18.2 million in salaries and benefits in 2008. For more information about South Texas Regional Medical Center’s service lines, physicians or specialties, please visit www.strmc.com.

SOURCES: http://tmf.org and http://award.tmfhqi.net