FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Barbara Stripling 
                Media Contact, Flowers Hospital
                (334)794-5000, ext. 1950

Dothan, AL, March 31, 2009 – Flowers Hospital, a 235-bed hospital affiliated with Community Health Systems, has scored the highest on process-of-care, or “core” measures, in the United States, as developed and rated by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

The Dothan, Alabama based hospital achieved top status across four clinical areas: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical infection prevention.  As a result of the CMS scores, Flowers was featured in a recent case study by The Commonwealth Fund titled “Flowers Hospital: Nearing Perfection on Core Measures.” 

The Commonwealth Fund’s website “www.WhyNotTheBest.org” reports publicly available data and provides a tool with which hospitals can benchmark their own performance. 

To be included in the analysis, a hospital must have submitted data for all 22 measures with a minimum of 30 cases for at least one measure in each of the four clinical areas. According to CMS, core measures are based on scientific evidence about treatments that are known to get the best results for patients with certain medical conditions or surgical procedures.

To achieve its high quality levels, Flowers Hospital identifies patients meeting the CMS core measures early in their hospital stay and continuously monitors their progress to ensure proper care.  This approach involves five critical elements:

• Patient identification.  Patients who experience heart failure, heart attack, pneumonia, or have surgery are identified at the beginning of their hospitalization, so that appropriate care can be provided in a timely manner.
• Concurrent review.  A concurrent nurse reviewer monitors each eligible patient to ensure his or her care meets the standards and intervenes as needed.
• Tools for frontline staff.  Nurses receive a color-coded packet to help them follow the expected practices, including providing patient education and delivering the appropriate care for that condition.  Disease-specific progress notes and order forms are also used.
• Quality improvement teams.  Multidisciplinary teams review all instances of non-compliance and modify care processes if necessary to improve future adherence to guidelines.
• Performance oversight and accountability.  Team leaders meet with the CEO to discuss “fall outs,” establishing accountability for achieving goals among the staff at the highest levels.

"Flowers Hospital is committed to ensuring evidence based healthcare practices and processes are utilized for the patients we are privileged to serve" said Keith Granger, President/CEO of Flowers Hospital. “We would like to acknowledge our outstanding physicians and dedicated employees for their contribution and collaboration leading to our quality and patient care performance. The teamwork and strategies employed to achieve top performance in core measures are also being utilized to make improvements in other patient care conditions and services as well. Flowers Hospital’s culture of quality improvement reflects our goal to provide every patient with the right health care services every time.”

For information regarding the case study performed by the Commonwealth Fund, please visit www.commonwealthfund.org

Flowers Hospital has served the healthcare needs of the Wiregrass for over 50 years.  The facility is not only an important resource for the Dothan community, it also serves as a major tertiary referral center for the Tri-State area of south Alabama, southwest Georgia, and northwest Florida.

By combining responsible personnel of approximately 1100 employees, modern equipment and supplies, effective management, sophisticated support services, up-to-date professional education programs, and a staff of over 250 exceptional physicians, Flowers Hospital is able to assure its patients of quality health care.

For more information please visit www.flowershospital.com.

The Commonwealth Fund is a New York based private foundation that aims to promote a high performing healthcare system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency for patients. The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy. Support for this research was provided by The Commonwealth Fund. The views presented here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Commonwealth Fund or its directors, officers, or staff.
For more information please visit www.commonwealthfund.org.