UK HealthCare Named ‘Rising Star’ Hospital by University HealthSystem Consortium

University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), an alliance of the nation’s leading nonprofit academic medical centers, has named UK HealthCare among the 2013 recipients of the Rising Star Award during the UHC Annual Conference 2013 in Atlanta. The award recognizes significant improvements in ranking in UHC’s annual Quality and Accountability Study, which identifies exemplary performance in patient safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness, and equity of care. UK HealthCare has not only shown improvement from previous years, it has the highest jump in rankings in UHC’s history with a Quality and Accountability Ranking of 12th among the nation's 118 academic medical centers. The 2013 UHC Rising Star winners are: UK HealthCare Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Stanford Hospital & Clinics "We have a fundamental commitment to focus on benchmark clinical programs," said Dr. Michael Karpf, UK executive vice president for health affairs. "This award is an example of external validation of our success in these efforts." The Rising Star Award is a prestigious honor given to some of the country's most prestigious academic medical centers. For example, last year's recipients were the Cleveland Clinic, Duke University, Shands Jacksonville Medical Center and The Medical University of South Carolina. "UK HealthCare’s journey to this award began with initiatives started by Dr. Richard Lofgren and has been carried on by the senior leadership team despite continued emphasis on efficiency," added Karpf. According to UHC, UK HealthCare has received the following rankings: Overall Quality and Accountability - Ranked No. 12 in 2013, compared to No. 56 in 2012 Mortality - Ranked No. 8 in 2013, compared to No. 18 in 2012 Safety - Ranked No. 18 in 2013, compared to No. 86 in 2012 Patient Centeredness - Ranked No. 20 in 2013, compared to No. 38 in 2012 “UHC congratulates these hospitals for successfully focusing on health care quality and accountability improvement,” said Irene M. Thompson, UHC’s president and chief executive officer. “The achievements of the Rising Stars are especially notable because other academic medical centers are also working in earnest to improve patient safety and quality, and thus it has become quite difficult to stand out among more than 100 peer organizations.” The UHC Quality and Accountability Study was designed to help academic medical centers identify structures and practices that are associated with high performance in quality and safety. Formed in 1984 and based in Chicago, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 118 academic medical center and 299 affiliated hospital members through its renowned solutions in the areas of performance improvement, comparative data and analytics, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy.