An Elite Core of Healthcare Providers

Joint Township District Memorial Hospital named to Top 1%.

Deb McKee, chief nursing officer and vice president of Patient Care Services at Joint Township District Memorial Hospital, is thrilled to learn the hospital has received the highly distinguished Premier CareScience Select Practice National Quality Award for 2007.

The St.Marys, Ohio, hospital is one of only 49 hospitals nationwide honored with this exclusive award. The award recognizes the top 1 percent of hospitals demonstrating a
combination of superior patient outcomes in quality and exceptional efficiency. Joint Township District Memorial Hospital was ranked alongside such world-renowned instutions as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

"We've always believed arid strived to be a high-quality hospital, but an award like this is very validating and a reflection of the level of our care, compassion and expertise," says McKee. "We celebrate that and honor the people in our organization who help make this award possible. It sends a strong message to the community about our commitment to delivering the very best in healthcare.''

Hospitals are assessed using a specific methodology that evaluates quality and efficiency through patient population analysis. Hospitals do not apply for this recognition, but rather are identified as exceptional performers in quality and efficiency, regardless of bed size teaching status, among acute care facilities in MEDPAR (Medical Patient Accounting and Reporting): 2005 data. Premier CareScience is the largest healthcare alliance in the U.S. providing Web-based performance measurements and benchmarking, real-time surveillance and best practices to help improve patient care quality while safely reducing the cost of care.

"This honor reflects the quality care our employees and physicians provide daily to our patients," says Kevin Harlan, president and CEO of Joint Township District Memorial
Hospital and the Grand Lake Health System. "We commend them for their dedication to making certain that our patients receive safe, excellent, compassionate care."

TheTop 1%—only 49 out of 4,500 make the cut

Being selected for this exclusive ranking is a very big deal.

Here's why:

• It's a benchmark of excellence in quality and efficient care. Approximately 4,500 acute care hospitals in the United States were evaluated for quality and efficiency and only 1% are honored. The Quality Index is calculated from the outcomes of mortality, morbidity and complications. The Efficiency Index is calculated from the length-of-stay outcome.

• The award demonstrates a Hospital's commitment to providing the very best in healthcare.

• It give's healthcare consumers an important tool in evaluating and comparing their hospital's patient care and safety performance.