Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital is one of only two Massachusetts hospitals to win the prestigious Premier Award for Quality from the Premier Healthcare Alliance. The award recognizes hospitals for high achievement in patient care and quality initiatives. This is the second time in three years Brockton Hospital has received the Premier Award for Quality; in 2010, only 21 hospitals and three healthcare systems in the country were singled out by the Alliance.

“This award is a gratifying acknowledgement of the tremendous work Brockton Hospital nurses, doctors and technicians perform every day,” said Gene Wallace, Interim CEO of Signature Healthcare. “Safe, high quality patient care is our Job #1,” Wallace continued. “This award confirms our belief that community hospitals can produce outstanding results for their patients, at a much more affordable cost than some of our competitors.”

The award’s performance-based criteria measure top hospitals on dimensions including quality outcomes, resource utilization and clinical process indicators. Brockton Hospital has focused attention system wide on achieving outstanding CORE measure success by employing the protocols of modern, evidence-based medicine. Earlier this year, the hospital was recognized by Consumer Reports as one of only a handful in Massachusetts which reported zero central-line bloodstream infections for its patients.

“Every member of the Brockton Hospital staff strives to provide the highest quality care in the most efficient manner to all members of our community,” said Sheryl Moszczenski, Director of Quality Resources at Signature Healthcare, who accepted the award for the hospital. “We are pleased to be recognized by our peers as part of an elite group within the industry, and I congratulate our staff for this acknowledgement of the exemplary care they deliver every day to each and every patient.”

“The AFQ honors the efforts of industry leaders to provide high-quality care,” said Susan DeVore, Premier President and CEO. “As we celebrate the achievements of these facilities, the alliance is helping to further improve the health of communities across the nation.”

All acute care inpatient facilities in the United States that submitted data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CMS Hospital Compare project were considered for the AFQ—a total of 3,788 hospitals and 346 healthcare systems. Quality and Efficiency Indexes were calculated for 60 disease groups and at the overall hospital level.

To be considered for the Award for Quality, hospitals must have posted high scores for both quality and efficiency in treating at least 10 out of the 60 disease groups measured by Premier.

Additional information about the AFQ and related methodology can be found at: http://www.premierinc.com/about/news/awards/index.jsp.

About Signature Healthcare
Signature Healthcare includes Brockton Hospital as well as Signature Medical Group - 150 physicians and other direct care providers - and a total of 2,500 employees operating from locations in Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, Randolph, Raynham, Stoughton and West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. In 2008 and 2010, Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital received the Premier Award for Quality, ranking it in the top 1% of all acute care hospitals in the country.

About the Premier Healthcare Alliance, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,300 U.S. hospitals and 67,000-plus other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. www.premierinc.com