Memorial Health Earns Top Ranking in “Pay-For-Performance” Project

SAVANNAH, Ga.–Memorial Health has been recognized as a top performer in the care and treatment of hip and knee replacement patients, according to results of a groundbreaking Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Premier Inc., pay-for-performance project.

The CMS/Premier Pay-for-Performance Demonstration (or Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration — HQID) is the first national pay-for-performance project of its kind. Its goal is to determine whether financial incentives are effective in improving the quality of inpatient hospital care. The three-year project, conducted by CMS and Premier Inc., gave Memorial Health an overall composite quality score of 98.86 percent for hip and knee replacement for Medicare patients. The score is an aggregate of all evidence-based clinical quality measures received by all patients admitted to the hospital. Quality measures for joint replacement surgery patients include appropriate antibiotic therapy, prevention of postoperative complications, and a decrease in hospital re-admissions.

“This recognition is a testament to the efforts of our Team Members and their dedication to providing world-class healthcare to our patients,” said Memorial Health president and CEO Robert A. Colvin. “We are pleased to participate in this demonstration and are proud that our performance was rated among the best.”

More than 260 hospitals are voluntarily participating. The project’s foundation for tracking hospitals’ performance is Premier's Perspective™ database, the largest clinical comparative database in the nation.

Unlike other performance improvement initiatives that only monitor processes of care associated with three focus areas, HQID tracks process and outcome measures in five clinical areas – heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft, pneumonia, and hip and knee replacement.

For complete information about the HQID project, visit www.premierinc.com/qualitydemo .
Memorial Health is a two-state healthcare organization serving a 35-county area in southeast Georgia and southern South Carolina. The system includes its flagship Memorial Health University Medical Center, a 530-bed tertiary medical center; CareOne, its two-state home care division; Memorial Health University Physicians, the area's largest group practice; a major medical education program; business and industry services; and NurseOne, a 24-hour call center. Memorial Health is the only healthcare system in the country to be named a Distinguished Hospital by J.D. Power and Associates and a “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune Magazine. Visit the Memorial Health Web site at www.memorialhealth.com