November 19, 2012

Harrington Wins National Quality Care Award

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 19, 2012 — Harrington Hospital has received national recognition for its improvement in patient care outcomes.

Harrington received a Top Improver Award from Press Ganey, an independent healthcare survey organization, at the Press Ganey National Conference in Washington, D.C., this week.

This award recognizes clients who have shown continuous improvement over the previous two years. Harrington is one of only12 hospitals to receive this recognition for improved clinical performance as measured by comparing quarterly composite scores for four measure sets representing 26 clinical measures. To be chosen a winner, a hospital must be among the top 3% on the overall improvement score, and must demonstrate improvement on all measure sets. Press Ganey partners with more than 10,000 health care facilities, including more than half of all U.S. hospitals, to also measure and improve the patient experience.

Accepting the award for Harrington HealthCare System at the conference were Ed Moore, President and CEO; Kathleen Davis, Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety; and Pamela Zouranjian Connor, Chair of the Customer Care Committee.

“We are honored to be chosen as a Top Improver by Press Ganey,” said Edward Moore, President and CEO of Harrington. “Providing quality patient care is central to our mission. All of us at Harrington — our physicians, nurses, clinicians, office staff and executives — work diligently each day to take the best possible care of our patients.”

“We are proud to partner with Harrington,” said Patrick T. Ryan, CEO of Press Ganey. “Achieving this level of excellence in CORE measures performance reflects the organizations commitment to delivering outstanding service and quality. Harringtons dedication to continuous improvement of clinical measures benefits patients and helps to advance the quality of health care in South Central Worcester County and Northern Connecticut.”

The Top Improver Award is one of a number of quality and patient safety achievements by Harrington recently. Among Harringtons achievements are:

• Ranking in the top 10 of Massachusetts hospitals tracked by Press Ganey in five key patient satisfaction areas for the second quarter of 2012.
• Winning an award for “Highest and Most Improved” in a key stroke screening indicator — dysphagia.
• Ranking in the top 10 of Massachusetts hospitals tracked by Press Ganey in two key Patient Satisfaction areas for the last quarter of 2011./li>
• Seeing its Press Ganey Outpatient Satisfaction scores rise consistently since the first quarter of 2009.