Laredo Medical Center Receives Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award
Laredo, TX (May 1, 2012) – Laredo Medical Center (LMC) has received the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Silver Award from TMF® Health Quality Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Texas. The award honors Texas hospitals that are performing quality initiatives aimed at improving outcomes in patient care on specific national quality measures.
“The award acknowledges hospitals for improving care related to heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care,” said Tim Schmidt, CEO, LMC. “These clinical areas have been designated as national health care priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit, standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.”
CMS and The Joint Commission targeted these areas as priorities because they measure care for common, serious health conditions that affect all adult patients. The quality measures are designed to ensure hospitals provide care consistent with current medical guidelines.
“The care has been excellent and the staff has always focused on quality,” said Dr. Carlos Hornedo, Chief of Staff, LMC. “You just don’t get this award, LMC has been working on it for over a year now.”
Out of 214 participating Texas hospitals, 2 were presented with the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Gold Award, 129 hospitals earned the Silver Award, and 36 hospitals received the Bronze Award.
“Our success illustrates our commitment to patient safety and to delivering quality health care,” said Tim Schmidt, CEO of LMC. “It was a significant amount of work, but well worth it because it was the right thing to do for our patients.”
To earn the Silver Award, a hospital had to achieve or maintain performance between 90 and 100 percent on the Appropriate Care Measure and to have met all other awards requirements.
David E. Garza D.O., President of the Board of Trustees of TMF® Health Quality Institute, says self-assessing your own company is the right thing to do.
“Pharmacies, nursing homes, hospitals and physicians should all look at what their doing to see if there is a way of doing things better,” said Garza. “It’s making sure that what you’re doing is not only appropriate, but it’s excellent.”
Under the guidance of LMC’s Chief Quality Officer, Christine Martinez, RN, MSN, a multidisciplinary team was established.
“We know that using proven standards of care can save lives,” said Martinez. “Quality improvement can be challenging, but this proves we have what it takes, and that our people will do what they can to ensure that every person gets the right care at
the right time, every time.”
For more information on the awards program, see the TMF Health Quality Institute awards website at http://award.tmf.org or call Laredo Medical Center at 796-3223.