Awards for Excellence in Healthcare

Beebe Medical Center Recognized By the Premier Healthcare Alliance for High-Quality Patient Care, Operational Efficiency

Beebe Medical Center is one of 21 hospitals and three health systems of the 3,788 eligible hospitals and 346 health systems nationwide — the top 1 percent — that have been recognized with this Premier Award.

The award recognizes leading healthcare organizations that efficiently provide outstanding patient care and consistently set the standard in clinical excellence. The AFQ's performance-based criteria — including clinical quality outcomes, resource utilization, and clinical process indicators — measures top performers at the overall hospital level.

"This recognition is a credit to everyone at Beebe Medical Center," said Jeffrey M. Fried, FACHE, President/CEO of Beebe Medical Center. "It reflects the commitment and dedication of our Board, our physicians, our clinical staff and all employees who work to continually improve the quality and safety of the care that we bring to our community.

"The award recognizes the attention to detail that has made our clinical outcomes among the best in the nation," he continued. "We have established protocols following best practice guidelines to maintain high quality standards. For example, we participate in the Surgical Care Improvement Project, a national quality improvement program aimed at significantly reducing surgical complications. We use feedback from this program and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to monitor our outcomes and identify opportunities for improvement. We also have initiated strict infection prevention protocols and best practice measures to improve the care and treatment of patients with pneumonia, heart failure and heart attack."

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals and 67,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. www.premierinc.com

Beebe Medical Center Receives HealthGrades® 2010 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™

National Hospital Study Ranks Beebe Medical Center's
Quality in the Top 5% in Nation

Beebe Medical Center is one of only 269 hospitals ranked in the top 5 percent in the nation for overall patient outcomes in a new study issued by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. This accomplishment has led to Beebe Medical Center receiving the HealthGrades® 2010 Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award™.

"This outstanding achievement is a credit to everyone at Beebe Medical Center," said Jeffrey M. Fried, President and CEO of Beebe Medical Center. "It reflects the commitment and dedication of our Board, our physicians, our clinical staff and all employees who work to continually improve the quality and safety of the care that we bring to our community."

The eighth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study analyzed 40,000,000 hospitalization records from 5,000 hospitals over the years 2006, 2007, and 2008. It showed that the hospitals like Beebe Medical Center in the top 5 percent had better patient outcomes and were improving their outcomes at a faster rate than other hospitals.

Read more. >

Beebe Medical Center Receives 2010 National Quality
Award for Orthopedic Care

Beebe Medical Center has been ranked among the Top 5 percent of all hospitals in the nation in 2010 for its orthopedic care by HealthGrades®, the leading independent healthcare ratings company.

Beebe Medical Center is the only hospital in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia to receive 5-Star ratings for all orthopedic procedures that HealthGrades measures.

The ranking is based on the twelfth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America study, which looks at patient outcomes in the nation's 5,000 non-federal hospitals. The study also:

• Ranked Beebe Medical Center best for orthopedics on the Delmarva Peninsula for the fourth consecutive year
• Ranked Beebe Medical Center No. 1 in Delaware for overall orthopedic care for the fourth year in a row.
• Gave Beebe Medical Center:
• 5-Star rating for the treatment of heart attack
• 5-Star rating for the treatment of pneumonia
• 5-Star rating for the treatment of stroke
• 5-Star rating for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding
• 5-Star rating for the treatment of sepsis

Read full news release. >

Tunnell Cancer Center Earns National Achievement Award

Beebe Medical Center's Tunnell Cancer Center has been named a recipient of the 2008 Commission on Cancer Outstanding Achievement Award for excellence. Tunnell Cancer Center is one of only 95 cancer programs across the nation, and the only one in Delaware, to earn this prestigious award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).

The CoC Outstanding achievement award recognizes the significant commitment by the medical staff, administration, and personnel for providing high-quality cancer care and meeting and exceeding the standards set by the CoC Approvals Program, stated Stephen B. Edge, MD, FACS, CoC Chairman. Tunnell Cancer Center not only met the basic standards of the accreditation program, but excelled in seven areas where Commendation has been awarded.

Earlier in 2009, the Commission granted Tunnell Cancer Center a Three-Year Approval with Commendation. It was the second time in a row that Tunnell Cancer Center has gained the coveted Commendation designation, although Tunnell Cancer Center has consistently received approval from the Commission. Read full news release. >

Quality Insights of Delaware Honors Beebe

Quality Insights of Delaware, the state's Medicare quality improvement organization, honored Beebe Medical Center and Beebe Home Health for outstanding performance in improving the quality of care. Beebe Medical Center received two Golden Apple awards. The Golden Apple Award for Quality Leadership was for Beebe Medical Center's progress towards implementing a closed-loop bar-coding system for medication administration. In this system, the wristbands worn by patients in the hospital will include bar codes with the patient's demographic information that work in concert with computerized medication information. This system ensures that medications being given throughout the patient's hospital stay are the correct ones.

Beebe Medical Center also earned the Quality Partner Golden Apple Award for outreach efforts to help community physicians implement electronic health records. Beebe Medical Center has developed a strategic communication effort to help physicians work together with the medical center to develop and implement an electronic medical record system that will connect physicians' offices with the medical center's records.

Beebe Home Health was recognized with a Quality Associate Award for participation in healthcare quality improvement activities. These activities included reducing inpatient re-hospitalization, improving ambulation, managing pain that interferes with activity, and improving the culture of the organization. Beebe Home Health collaborated with Quality Insights of Delaware and implemented multiple best practices to improve the quality of care.

Delaware Quality Award

Beebe Medical Center received the 2006 W.L. (Bill) Gore Award for Excellence, a distinction based on the Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria. The recognition honors organizations that excel in leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, management, and results.

In presenting the award, the governor called Beebe a "most esteemed leader" in the state's medical and business community and noted that Beebe is the first hospital in Delaware to win the award.