John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital in Phoenix Receives Prestigious State Award

Phoenix, AZ, January 23, 2009 --(PR.com)-- John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital’s commitment to excellence in patient care has earned it the 2008 Arizona Pioneer Award for Quality.

For 16 years, the prestigious award has annually honored a state organization for performance excellence as part of the Arizona State Quality Awards Program of the Arizona Quality Alliance.

“The Arizona Quality Alliance Pioneer Award to John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital is not merely an honor recognizing our efforts to provide our patients with the very best care; it actually was a vehicle through which we were able to improve the care and services we are honored to provide to those whose care has been entrusted to us,” said Rhonda Forsyth, interim CEO of the Deer Valley hospital and executive vice president and COO of John C. Lincoln Health Network.

The Arizona State Quality Awards are modeled after the stringent criteria for the national Malcolm Baldrige Award, an annual award for excellence presented each year by the president of the United States in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The Arizona application process and awards also give recognition and provide feedback on an organization’s position on the quality continuum.

The judging methodology is one of the best to help organizations develop a higher level of operational excellence, according to Karen Shepard, executive director of the Arizona Quality Alliance. As part of the process, a team of examiners spends three days on site visiting departments, conducting interviews and evaluating processes. A panel of judges reviews everything for the final decision.

Through the application process, John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital in Phoenix showed how every process in the hospital has detailed standards that must be met or exceeded.

“We measure and monitor everything, from how we take care of heart attacks to how we clean floors,” said Kim Hunsinger, the hospital’s director of performance excellence. “It’s important to monitor closely what we are doing so we can deliver the best patient care possible.”

Those exacting standards also are opportunities to continually look for ways to improve and are part of the hospital’s culture. Employees in every department understand their goals and expectations. Patient satisfaction surveys are taken seriously.

John C. Lincoln’s mission is “to assist each person entrusted to our care to enjoy the fullest gift of health possible,” Forsyth said. “Toward that end, we work with our staff at all levels to pursue a never-ending quest to improve the quality of care and services we offer.”

Mendy’s Place, the North Valley’s only emergency department exclusively for children at John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital, received a 2006 Showcase in Excellence Award from the Arizona Quality Alliance, an award that recognizes specific areas of excellence within a few organizations each year.

Mendy’s Place, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, was selected for how it improved patient and staff satisfaction after moving into its new and expanded facility in 2005. Its patient satisfaction scores rank in the nation’s top 1 percent.

“In the process of applying for the State Quality Award for the hospital as a complete entity,” Forsyth said, “we were able to use what we learned in 2006 to make process improvements in quality systems throughout our facility’s operations. This has led to continuing improvements and high levels of performance excellence in patient care and services in ways we might not have otherwise discovered.”

Visit JCL.com/deervalley for more information.

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