(Anchorage, AK)—Four Alaska Hospitals were recently recognized by Mountain-Pacific Quality Health as Hospital Quality Award recipients on September 10, 2009, during the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA) annual conference.

Mountain-Pacific has presented hospitals with Hospital Quality Awards since 2006. This year’s awards recognized hospitals’ performance on four national quality projects.  

To be eligible for either the Hospital Quality Achievement Award or the Commitment to Quality Award, hospitals had to have submitted data to the QIO Clinical Warehouse and been signed up to publically report on Hospital Compare on the clinical topics of heart attacks, heart failure; pneumonia and surgical infection prevention. 

In addition hospitals had to provide a description of performance improvement actions put into effect during past year as well as a description of hand hygiene campaigns and employee immunization programs. Hospital leadership elements were also considered.

HOSPITAL QUALITY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDEES were required to reach an 85% performance score for the most recent quarter of data locked down in the QIO Clinical Warehouse as of August 15, 2009.

Hospitals also had to sustain a 90% or higher performance rate for the most recent 6-month period in 18 or more of the 29 quality indicators for the most recent quarter of data locked down in QIO Clinical warehouse as of August 15, 2009. This year's Quality Achievement Award winners were

• Alaska Regional Hospital,
• Central Peninsula Hospital and
• Providence Alaska Medical Center.

HOSPITAL COMMITMENT TO QUALITY AWARDEES were evaluated on one of the following criteria:  They had to reach a 75% performance score for the most recent quarter of data locked down in QIO Clinical warehouse as of August 15, 2009 OR sustain a 90% or higher performance rate for the most recent 6-month period in 16 or more of the 29 national quality indicators for the most recent quarter of data locked down in the QIO Clinical warehouse. 

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital was this year’s Commitment to Quality Award winner.