In 2008, Kendall Regional Medical Center was recognized as a Top 100 Hospital in the Nation for the sixth time. One of only three hospitals in Florida and the only facility in south Florida to receive the national benchmark award, the Center was honored for excellence in four critical areas: clinical process and outcomes; patient safety; operational efficiency and financial stability.
The award, which is given annually by Thomson Healthcare (formerly Solucient), identifies the nations top organization-wide performers based on data from public sources such as the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) and the Medicare Cost Report. “Whats important about this award is that the selection process is not just limited to one area of an organization, such as the clinical component,” said Peter T. Jude, director of Marketing and Community Relations, Kendall Regional Medical Center. “It takes into account all of the factors that go into running a successful facility including the financial health of the organization, without which you cant provide the support needed to run an efficient operation and have positive clinical outcomes.”
Kendall Regional Medical Center is a 412-bed, full-service hospital providing the residents of west Miami-Dade County with 24-hour comprehensive medical, surgical, and diagnostic services, as well as a wide range of patient and community services.
According to Kendall Regional Medical Center CEO Mauricio Sirvent, an award like this can only be won through the efforts of the entire medical center staff. “Being selected as one of the Top 100 Hospitals can only be achieved through the concerted efforts of everyone connected with our facility,” he explained. “Congratulations on winning this achievement must go to our employees and medical staff. I cant thank them enough for all of their hard work.”
In addition to winning the Top 100 Hospital award, Kendall Regional also earned the 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award for Overall Clinical Excellence from HealthGrades, the largest independent healthcare ratings organization in the country. This recognition places the facility among the top five percent of hospitals in the country.
“It was wonderful to be recognized for our superior clinical outcomes, as well as recognized for clinical excellence in four specialty areas,” said Jude. The Medical Center received Clinical Excellence Awards in Stroke Care, Pulmonary Care, Critical Care and Maternity Care. Currently, Kendall Regional Medical Center is ranked sixth among the top 10 hospitals in Florida for stroke care, second among the top five hospitals in Florida for critical care and first in Florida for pulmonary care.
The distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence identifies hospitals with lower mortality rates and lower complication rates across a range of 27 diagnoses or procedures. HealthGrades evaluates the performance of almost 5,000 hospitals based on risk adjusted mortality and complication rates.
According to Jude, one of the reasons that the Medical Center is receiving so many accolades is because of initiatives taken by the hospital and its parent company, Hospital Corporations of America (HCA) to ensure patient safety. “As a company we have chosen to focus on patient safety in a number of ways including taking a leading role in eradicating MRSA,” said Jude. A new strain of antibiotic-resistant staph, MRSA is much more difficult to treat than ordinary bacteria. HCAs 170 hospitals across the nation have implemented more aggressive infection prevention programs to deal with the spread of MRSA.
Kendall Regional Medical Center was also the first south Florida hospital to use both a pharmacy robotics system to automate the dispensing of inpatient medications and a bar-code electronic medication administration system that double-checks all patient information to ensure that the right medication is given to the right patient, in the right dosage, at the right time.
“We are a company that takes patient safety very seriously, and you can see it here daily,” said Jude. “You can see why we were selected to be in the Top 100.”
The Medical Center, which will celebrate its 35th year in August of 2008, also actively responds to the needs of its community. “The area we serve has changed so drasticallyit now has one of the highest growth rates in Miami-Dade County,” explained Jude. “To keep up with the growth, we just finished a $76 million expansion that doubled the square footage of the hospital.”
In addition to expanding the number of operating suites from eight to 10, the Medical Center expanded the emergency department from 9,000 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft.; combined ICU facilities that were previously in two separate areas, and created a new entrance to the hospital as well as new waiting areas.
“Now we are even better able to serve the community,” said Jude.
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