We take our responsibility for providing quality care very seriously. That’s why we are continuously working to improve care, working with our physicians and staff to implement “best practices” and “evidenced-based medicine.” We participate in national initiatives for quality, reporting information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and we focus on the quality measures that are part of our accreditation by The Joint Commission (the largest accrediting agency for healthcare organizations).
Nationwide, hospitals focus on “core measures,” which are guidelines for quality treatment of four very common and expensive health conditions. These are: Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Pneumonia and Surgical Infection. We report the figures to CMS and this forms the basis for comparing hospitals throughout the nation.
It is important for you to know that, while we work hard to follow these national guidelines, there will be times when the physician determines that a different course of treatment is best for the patient. You can be sure that we want the physician to do what he or she determines to be in the best interests of the patient, regardless of what a national guideline may indicate. Sometimes this may affect our rating, but we are committed to trusting the judgment of the physician who knows you and your condition best.
Many national or regional Web sites take a considerable amount of time to collect and present data. Thus, the data may be several years old. On the WK Web site you will find objective and accurate information that is the most current data available. Here you can compare our quality measures with the rigorous standards of CMS.
We hope that you will find this data helpful as you make decisions about healthcare for yourself and your family.