| We are proud of our ongoing efforts to find ways to improve the quality of our care and patient safety at DeKalb Medical but we don’t just look at our performance. We use nationally recognized organizations that compare hospitals to see how our performance ranks against similar hospitals. Not only do we evaluate our clinical performance but we also look closely at patient safety comparisons. These efforts help us find ways to improve our quality of care and patient safety.
Patient Safety Comparisons Earn VHA Recognition
DeKalb Medical’s commitment to clinical and operational excellence was recognized in 2009 with two leadership awards from VHA Georgia. VHA Georgia is the regional office of Voluntary Hospitals of America (VHA), an organization that has 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals as members. VHA and its member hospitals are dedicated to helping all hospitals succeed through the delivery of superior clinical services and implementation of superior operational processes.
A VHA Operational Excellence award went to the Emergency Room at North Decatur for decreasing wait times and improving patient satisfaction. By redesigning the triage area and enabling patients to register at the time they check in, the emergency department staff was able to streamline a patient’s visit and offer a higher level of customer service. Patient representatives located in the waiting room improve communication between patients, families and staff members so that everyone understands what is happening.
A VHA Clinical Excellence award was presented to DeKalb Medical at North Decatur for innovative protocols that reduced the incidence of pressure ulcers that developed while patients were in the hospital from 15% in 2008 to less than one percent in 2009.
Other Recognitions
DeKalb Medical was designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement from BlueCross BlueShield (2009-2011). We also received a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (2007-2012), CIGNA and Blue Cross, demonstrating that the center exceeds the most stringent requirements of clinical excellence.
Long Term Acute Care at Downtown Decatur is Georgia's first hospital to earn a Center of Excellence designation and Gold Seal disease-specific certification for wound care treatment from the Joint Commission (2010) - also the nation's first and only hospital to earn the Joint Commission's Gold Seal disease-specific certification for the treatment of patients on ventilators who are diagnosed with respiratory failure.
HealthGrades® Recognizes DeKalb Medical for Orthopedic Excellence
- HealthGrades ranked Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Orthopedic Services (2010)
- Recipient of HealthGrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award (2010-2011)
- Ranked among Top 10 hospitals in Georgia for Overall Orthopedics and Spine Surgery (2012)
Five-Star Rated In:
- Treatment of Heart Failure (2012)
- Peripheral Vascular Bypass Surgery (2012)
- Pneumonia (2012)
- Overall Orthopedic Services (2010-2012)
- Hip Fracture Repair (2009-2012)
- Back and Neck Surgery (Spinal Fusion) (2011-2012)
- Treatment of Heart Failure (2012)
- Joint Replacement (2010-2011)
- Total Knee Replacement (2010-2011)
HealthGrades uses predicted performance to compare hospitals and determine its star rating system. Five-Star Rated hospitals are top-rated hospitals with outcomes and performance levels that are better than expected. A hospital with a Three-Star Rating is considered “average” with outcomes and performance levels that fall within what the industry would expect, while a One-Star Rated hospital is a lower-rated hospital where actual performance and outcomes are worse than expected. Only 15% of hospitals in the nation fall into the 5-Star category and an even smaller number (five percent) have outcomes comparable to DeKalb Medical’s.
You can visit this site or visit the HealthGrades website for annual updates on DeKalb Medical’s clinical achievements in the HealthGrades study.
Our Quality and Patient Safety
We don’t rely on just one quality measurement organization to give us a picture of how we are doing. Joint Commission, Consumer Reports, Hospital Compare, and other national benchmark organizations that compare hospitals and evaluate patient safety comparisons help us continuously improve our service to you. Each DeKalb Medical facility reports quality and patient safety data to different organizations that compare our performance to the performance of similar organizations. To see how DeKalb Medical facilities compare to other hospitals, select the facility below:
DeKalb Medical at North Decatur
DeKalb Medical at Hillandale
DeKalb Medical Long Term Acute Care at Downtown Decatur
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