Vaughan Regional Medical Center was recently named one of the nation’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America.

According to the report, Vaughan Regional was recognized by the commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, children’s asthma, stroke and venous thromboembolism, as well as inpatient psychiatric services.

“We understand that what matters most to patients at Vaughan Regional Medical Center is safe, effective care. That’s why Vaughan Regional has made a commitment to accreditation and to positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes,” Vaughan Regional Medical Center CEO David Sirk. “Vaughan Regional Medical Center is proud to be named to the list of The Joint Commission’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures.”

Vaughan Regional Medical Center is one of 620 hospitals in the U.S. earning the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. Vaughan Regional was recognized for its achievement on the following measure sets: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2011 calendar year. The list of Top Performers increased by 50 percent from its debut last year and represents 18 percent of accredited hospitals reporting data.

Each of the hospitals recognized 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 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 commission, excluding 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, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery, and providing a home management plan for children with asthma.

“When we raise the bar and provide the proper guidance and tools, hospitals have responded with excellent results,” Joint Commission, president Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., said. “This capacity for continual improvement points toward a future in which quality and safety defects are dramatically reduced and high reliability is sought and achieved with regularity. Such day-to-day progress will slowly but surely transform today’s health care system into one that achieves unprecedented performance outcomes for the benefit of the patients.”

In addition to being included in today’s release of The Joint Commission’s “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report, Vaughan Regional Medical Center will be recognized on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website (www.qualitycheck.org). The Top Performer program will be featured in the November issue of The Joint Commission Perspectives and the October issue of The Joint Commission: The Source.