KALAMAZOO-While President Barak Obama’s historic Health Care Reform Bill works out its kinks, one Southwest Michigan Hospital continues to strive for excellence in providing top care to all of its patients. Their dedication to quality health care was recently recognized.
Kalamazoo’s Bronson Methodist Hospital, which serves the largest percentage of Medicaid patients in the area, was named one of the Top 100 Hospitals in the nation by Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. They researched short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals through Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare data set.
Cheryl Knapp, vice president of quality and safety at Bronson said the hospital administration is exited for this latest acknowledgment. She said the criteria changes every year for Reuters; this year included overall organizational performance, readmission rates and mortality information.
She said this recent recognition and other such accreditation and awards benefit the community in many ways. While the average person may not have the tools to evaluate a hospital, the third party evaluation does it for (patients).
“(Reuters and other such research firms) are like a consumer watchdog…and evaluate quality and safety in health care. Some even evaluate financial and other areas,” said Knapp who started as a nurse at Bronson more than 30 years ago.
“This (ranking) is a very big deal, due to the fact that of the nearly 3,000 hospitals researched, Bronson emerged as leading players.” said Knapp.
The 100 Top Hospitals represent five categories: Major Teaching, Teaching, and Large, Medium, and Small Community Hospitals. Bronson, the only recipient in southwest Michigan, is listed in the Teaching category.
Bronson, located at 601 John St. in downtown Kalamazoo, Mich., has been a teaching hospital for the past 40 years, according to Knapp. She said medical students from Michigan State University complete their residency there as well as nursing students from Western Michigan University. Knapp says the hospital is dedicated to training the next generation of health care professionals through high school Kalamazoo Education for Employment programs. Ratings by those such as Reuters, also helps in the recruitment of new physicians and nurses who seek out high standards when searching career placement.
This is not the first time Bronson Methodist Hospital has been recognized by Thomson Reuters. Previous honors include: 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks (2005), 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leader (2007), and 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Care (2008).
Other recognitions include: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (2005), American Hospital Association-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize (2009), HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence (2009, 2010) and Magnet designation (2009).
About Bronson Methodist Hospital
For more information, visit www. HYPERLINK “http://www.bronsonhealth.com/” bronsonhealth.com.
About Thomson Reuters
For more information, go to HYPERLINK “http://thomsonreuters.com/” \t “_blank” www.thomsonreuters.com.
*To see the complete list of Top 100 hospitals click here.
