Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Walnut Creek Earns 'Top Performer' Recognition

Twenty Kaiser Permanente hospitals, including the Walnut Creek Medical Center, have been nationally recognized as “Top Performers on Key Quality Measures™” for 2011 performance in “Improving America’s Hospitals The Joint Commission’s Annual Report on Quality and Safety 2012.”

Kaiser Permanente’s Walnut Creek Medical Center is recognized for achieving excellence in performance on accountability measures during 2011 for the following measure sets: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care.

“This recognition speaks to the excellent care that we strive to give all of our patients every day,” said Ginger Campbell, senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente’s Diablo Area. “It is an honor to be acknowledged and it speaks to the success of our expert physicians, our integrated health care model, and our dedication to keeping our communities healthy.”

This is the second year of The Joint Commission’s Top Performers report. This year’s report recognizes 620 hospitals nationwide that are Top Performers, representing approximately 18 percent of more than 3,000 Joint Commission accredited hospitals reporting core measure performance data for 2011. The report highlights Joint Commission accredited hospitals that met two 95 percent (95/95) performance thresholds on 2011 accountability measure data. First, each hospital achieved performance of 95 percent or above on a single, composite score that includes all the accountability measures for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, including measures that had fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. Second, each hospital met or exceeded 95 percent performance on every accountability measure for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, excluding any measures with fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients.

A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice — for example, giving aspirin at arrival for heart attack patients and giving antibiotics one hour before surgery.

Over the last several years, Kaiser Permanente has had an intensive focus on improving the care and service experience for members. “Last year, Kaiser Permanente had 10 hospitals on the Top Performers list based on 2010 data, and we now have 20 hospitals on the list based on 2011 data, so we are seeing dramatic improvements in overall performance at our hospitals,” said Jed Weissberg, MD, senior vice president, Hospitals, Quality and Care Delivery Excellence for Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan. “We are proud of this acknowledgement by The Joint Commission, which reflects our awarded hospitals adherence to evidence-based practices that improve the care we deliver to our members.”

According to the report, 9 Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals were on the list: Orange County (Anaheim and Irvine), Downey, Fontana, South Bay, Los Angeles, Panorama City, Riverside, San Diego and Woodland Hills.

Ten Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals were also honored: Fresno,Hayward/Fremont, Modesto/Manteca, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa, South San Francisco, Vacaville and Walnut Creek. The Joint Commission, for purposes of accreditation, recognizes Fremont/Hayward and Modesto/Manteca as combined campuses.

In addition, Kaiser Permanente’s Hawaii Moanalua Medical Center in Honolulu was recognized as a Top Performer.

For a complete list of the Top Performers hospitals, as well as the specific measure sets for which each of the 20 hospitals are being recognized, please see The Joint Commission’s “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report.