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BWH this week became the first hospital in New England to win the prestigious National Quality Health Care Award from the National Committee for Quality Health Care (NCQHC).
BWH is just the 13th hospital to receive this annual award from the NCQHC, a nonprofit organization comprised of industry leaders who share a common interest in quality as the foundation of health care delivery. Each year since 1994, the NCQHC has assembled a panel of independent jurors from a broad spectrum of academia, health care, consumer groups, public agencies and others.
The NCQHC and the judging panel examine hospital performance across eight dimensions of quality: leadership commitment; strategic planning; patient-centered practices; innovative informatics and application of new technologies; building a committed workforce; evidence-based performance measurement and improvement systems; strong financial management; and community health needs.
Specifically, the NCQHC looks for excellence in all eight categories, and in BWH, that's exactly what the judging panel found, said its chairman, Kenneth Samet, president and COO of MedStar Health. "We were impressed with all of the applicants. The field is clearly making real progress in developing higher quality, safer, patient care environments. However, BWH demonstrated an innovative approach to cultural transformation using new and emerging technologies and bringing staff into the decision-making process. Throughout the application, BWH demonstrated a strong commitment to quality."
NCQHC President and CEO Janet Corrigan said, "The National Quality Health Care award honors BWH's executive leadership and staff for exceptional efforts to improve quality using a system-wide approach to meet goals, maintain financial stability and ensure seamless leadership transition."
The Cardinal Health Foundation, which is supported by Cardinal Health Inc., sponsors the NCQHC National Quality Health Care Award with Modern Healthcare magazine, which announced the award this week. The award will be presented to BWH next month at the annual NCQHC meeting in Washington, D.C.