Statewide Project to Improve Hospital Care March 31, 2006 Catawba Valley Medical Center Participating in Statewide Project to Improve Care

Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) has partnered with 15 other hospitals across the state in a hospital initiative designed to bring transformational change to the healthcare arena and raise the bar for performance to ensure that every patient gets the right care, every time. Known as the Appropriateness of Care Measure (ACM), the project will focus on improving clinical performance measure results in three areas - heart attack care, heart failure care and pneumonia care. The project is sponsored by The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME), the federally designated quality improvement organization (QIO) in North Carolina. "We have an outstanding team of professionals to help anyone coming through our doors today," explained Mary McDaniels, RN, MNA, CCM Administrator, Clinical Resource Management, "but here is an opportunity to collaborate with other experts and learn even more. That's a win-win situation to me." Leading the program effort for CCME is Eva Powell, MSW, LCSW, Senior Associate for the Hospital Team, who explained that the hospitals have already begun showing a commitment to change. "Is every person in North Carolina receiving the appropriate care every time?" Powell asked. "The ACM program addresses that question. ACM is patient-centered. The vision of delivering the appropriate care every time encourages all of us to approach quality improvement from a patient's point of view. For example, if a patient receives part, but not all, of the care proven necessary for a good outcome, have they really received the right care? In the end, through improving their processes of care, patients will experience care that is safer, more reliable, more responsive and more integrated. "The Catawba Valley Medical Center staff members have many talents. One special talent is their enthusiasm to improve patient care. We all know it is difficult to change things - especially when it's something you've done for a long time. But when CVMC staff members' find a better way to deliver patient care - they are not hesitant to learn from others and change." The ACM program started in January and runs through the end of 2006. For more information about the hospital project, contact Mary McDaniels, 828-326-2390, [email protected]. Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit, public healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. CVMC, recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet facility, was recently named a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers.