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News Release

April 26, 2005

Contact: Jane Shaskan, 860-679-4777
e-mail: shaskan@nso.uchc.edu

UConn Health Center in Top 100 of Performance Leaders Nationwide

Achieved Fastest Rate of Improvement According to National Study

FARMINGTON, CONN. – The University of Connecticut Health Center has been named a Performance Improvement Leader, one of a 100 hospitals nationwide to achieve the fastest rate of consistent annual clinical and organizational improvement. The new study, “Solucient’s 100 Top Hospitals®: Performance Improvement Leaders, 2nd Edition” appears in the April 25 issue of Modern Healthcare and covers 1999 through 2003.

“The PI Leadership award is not due to the work of any one individual,” said UConn Health Center Hospital Director Steven Strongwater, M.D. “It is the result of everyone who interacts directly with patients, or who supports patient care. The average patient is touched by 60 people during a hospitalization. Every hand- off and every step of the process has to work for care to be ideal,” he said. “So for every patient, at least 60 people deserve this award.”

According to the study, Performance Improvement Leader (PIL) hospitals showed significant improvement in patient safety measures, and decrease in mortality rates and complications. Patients were also discharged earlier and costs were better managed.

“Improvement in multiple areas among PIL winners is indicative of good alignment in the organizations,” stated David Foster, Ph.D., vice president of clinical informatics at Solucient. “That means that leaders in all departments of the hospital are working together to achieve sustainable goals of performance improvement.”

“The staff and physicians have been committed to excellence in their approach to patient care for many years,” said Dr. Strongwater. “This award gives us all a sense that our hard work is paying off. It’s sometimes hard to appreciate how much progress we have made in improving care,” he said.
PIL hospitals accepted the challenge to initiate change, building a culture receptive to improvement, and generated permanent improvement. The top 100 hospitals recognized have improved faster and more consistently than their peers across the nation. “These hospitals are increasing the value they bring to their communities year over year,” stated Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president, Center for Healthcare Improvement at Solucient.

For more information about the Solucient study visit: www.100tophospitals.com.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

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