Colleton Medical Center
November 13, 2014

Walterboro, SC—For the fourth year in a row, Colleton Medical Center was named Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America. CMC was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions. CMC attained some of the highest performance scores in the nation for treating heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care.

Colleton Medical Center is one of 1,224 hospitals in the U.S. earning the distinction of 2013 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance and is one of only 147 hospitals in the nation earning this distinction for the fourth year in a row.

CMC was recognized for its achievement on the following measure sets: Heart Failure, Pneumonia, and Surgical Care (redundant info). The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2013 calendar year.

Colleton Medical Center and each of the hospitals that were named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures must: 1) achieve cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures; 2) achieve performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure where there are at least 30 denominator cases; and 3) have at least one core measure set that has a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and (within that measure set) all applicable individual accountability measures have a performance rate of 95 percent or above. 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 of care for children with asthma.

“Delivering the right treatment in the right way at the right time is a cornerstone of high-quality health care. I commend the efforts of Colleton Medical Center for their excellent performance on the use of evidence-based interventions,” said Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president and CEO, The Joint Commission.

CMC joins a very select group hospitals, comprised of less than 3% of the nation’s hospitals, to have achieved this distinction four years in a row. “We understand that what matters most to patients at Colleton Medical Center is the quality and safety of the care they receive. Our entire team works hard every day to provide the best quality care, and achieving this national distinction four years in a row is a testimony to their dedication to quality. CMC is fortunate to have such committed employees, physicians, and Board members and we are proud to receive the distinction of being a Joint Commission Top Performer on Key Quality Measures,” says Brad Griffin, CEO

In addition to being included in today’s release of The Joint Commission’s “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report, Colleton Medical Center will be recognized on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website.