As a member and Chair of the Valley Board of Trustees, my colleagues and I are proud to support Valley’s mission to provide vital access to care in the communities we each represent. We’re also intently focused on the quality of that care.
What do I mean by quality? That means care is safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centered. While that’s not always easy to achieve, we all believe it’s essential to try, and then continue to improve.
As a Board, we provide a community perspective, an extra pair of eyes and ears, bringing feedback and input to hospital leaders. We ask tough questions and monitor key measurement tools: audit reports, patient satisfaction scores, culture of safety and risk reports, staff and provider engagement scores, quality measurement indicators, and yes, even social media comments and ratings. We also often participate in and review survey findings by outside organizations. These are just a few:
- Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ/US Dept of Health & Human Services)
- Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems (CAHPS & CGCAHPS)
- The Joint Commission
- National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG)
- Leapfrog
- National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
- Healthcare Effectiveness Data & Information Set (HEDIS)
- Community Health Needs Assessment
- Annual Independent Financial Audit
- Washington State Auditor Accountability Report
As you can see, we have an abundance of data to digest, prioritize and together with hospital leadership, use to develop into annual Board Goals meant to provide strategic direction and aspirational targets for continued improvement across the organization. I’m particularly excited about several key goals achieved that demonstrate Valley’s commitment to quality care in our community:
- Valley Medical Center Physician Network received the Patient Centered Medical Home status through the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a model of care that puts patients at the center and has been shown to improve quality, patient and care team experience and reduce costs.
- Valley’s Cancer Services program received the Commission on Cancer’s Gold Level Outstanding Achievement Award, placing Valley in the top 10% of all Cancer Programs in the country.
- Successful Level III Trauma re-designation by Washington Department of Health
- Successful Laboratory re-accreditation by the College of American Pathologists
- Highest national recognition from the American Heart & Stroke Associations, Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus/Target Stroke Elite Plus Award for excellence in stroke treatment.
- Neuroscience Institute’s Epilepsy Clinic gained re-accreditation as a Level 4 epilepsy center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers signaling we provide the highest level of care to people with epilepsy and other seizure disorders.
- For the seventh year, Valley qualified as a 2018 Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Index 2018.
- Named by Healthgrades as one of the 100 “Best Hospitals” in its annual list of America’s Best Hospitals, placing Valley in the top 2% in the nation for clinical quality.
- Recognized with the 2018 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, placing Valley’s performance among the top 5 percent in the nation for at least 21 of 32 inpatient conditions and procedures analyzed by Healthgrades. Only 250 hospitals out of a total of nearly 4500 hospitals nationwide achieved this level of clinical quality.
- Internationally designated Baby-Friendly Birth Facility & Washington Gold Level Breastfeeding Friendly Facility
Your Feedback
The Board plans to report highlights of its progress in upcoming editions of Thrive. I invite you to visit us online to make a suggestion or contact us with questions. There are several ways to provide feedback:
- Patient Rounding: Staff in the hospital and clinics often round on patients to check on how they’re doing and see if there’s anything needed to make their stay more comfortable
- Post-visit Patient Surveys: A random sampling of patients receive an anonymous survey requesting information about their experience, giving us valuable insight into where we can improve
- Contact Us on valleymed.org provides a convenient way to submit your feedback or questions
- Letters to the Board can be sent to:
Valley Medical Center
Attn: Kathryn Holland
Executive Assistant to the CEO, Board of Trustees & Board of Commissioners
PO Box 50010, Renton, WA 98058
