Baptist Medical Center's Patient Outcomes Among Highest in the Nation, According to Independ...(s an even greater difference 72 percent ...),Health

"This honor shows Baptist's commitment to strive for excellence," Dr. McVey added. "As we move forward, we will continue to focus investments in the latest, innovative technology, enhancing our facility and advancing our clinical expertise. This will enable us to sustain and increase positive outcomes."

Baptist defines quality in a variety of ways including clinical quality of care, credentials, and patient satisfaction. Patients might see quality as the cleanliness of the facility or convenient parking. For health care organizations, quality is defined by how the organization treats illnesses and measures outcomes.

"There has been much publicity about measures of quality in the health care industry. Baptist voluntarily participates in a variety of measurements for health care quality," said Dr. McVey. "In order for us to achieve our vision to become the first choice for patients, physicians and employees in Mississippi, it is imperative we provide outstanding quality in all areas."

Even though many measurements exist to evaluate quality of care, the most conclusive way to recognize the quality of care is improving is to measure outcomes. Since 1999, HealthGrades has studied and measured the quality of care at the nation's approximately 5,000 hospitals and published the results of its annual research on the Web to assist consumers in choosing a hospital. HealthGrades' star rating system tells consumers whether a particular hospital's performance is "Best" with 5 Stars, "As Expected" with 3 Stars or "Poor" with 1 Star on a particular procedure or condition. Hospital ratings are based on patient outcomes, specifically, risk-adjusted mortality or complications.

"HealthGrades' recognition is good news for citizens in Mississippi. It's important for residents in our area to know they can fin
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