Volume 18, No. 1, Winter 2010
In what Dr. Richard F. Salluzzo, President/CEO of Cape Cod Healthcare, described as “an incredible achievement,” Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital—CCHC’s flagship facilities—have earned 62 Quality and Patient Safety Awards, according to The Delta Group, a leading healthcare information services company.
Among the awards, Cape Cod Hospital ranks first in Massachusetts in Overall Hospital Care, Overall Medical Care, Cardiac Care and Orthopedic Care, while Falmouth Hospital is first in Massachusetts in Neurological Care.
“Our two hospitals have achieved and maintained superior performance in many medical and patient safety categories. The Delta Group’s rating system is more comprehensive and multidimensional than other rating systems, so to have Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital grade so highly is a true testament to the talent and dedication of our physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals,” Dr. Salluzzo added.
The Delta Group uses both public and proprietary information to compare the quality of hospital and physician care to national, state and local standards. The program analyzes a variety of process, outcome and patient satisfaction measures to assign a composite quality score and rating.
In addition to the top rankings in Massachusetts, Cape Cod Hospital scored in the Top 10 percent nationally in categories such as Overall Hospital Care, Overall Medical Care, Cardiac Care, Overall Surgical Care, Orthopedic Care, Major Orthopedic Surgery, and Cancer Care. Falmouth Hospital scored in the Top 10 nationally in Overall Medical Care, Cardiac Care and Neurological Care. A complete list of all of the awards earned by both hospitals is accessible at www.capecodhealth.org.
The awards come on the heels of the announcement in June that Cape Cod Healthcare was chosen as one of the top health care systems in America in the Thomson Reuters 100 benchmarks study.
The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands (RHCI) has won two prestigious national “green” awards for instituting environmentally friendly practices and for efforts to eliminate mercury.
The organization Practice Greenhealth honored RHCI with its “Partner Recognition Award” and “Making Medicine Mercury-Free Award.” Practice Greenhealth consists of hospitals, healthcare systems and businesses across the country committed to establishing strong environmental practices “to improve the health of patients, staff and the environment.”
“We’ve come a long way in just two years,” said Sharon Gale, PT, MHA, manager of outpatient operations and co-chair of the hospital’s environmental unit, called the RHCI Green Team, a 12-member cross-section of administrators, managers, doctors and therapists.
Project Greenhealth cited the hospital’s green efforts on multiple fronts:
RHCI’s efforts also have drawn local praise. The Sandwich Chamber of Commerce has named RHCI a recipient of its newly created Cape and Islands Green Award. The chamber cited the hospital’s emphasis on employee training, recycling and switching to environmentally friendly cleaning products.
And RHCI’s Green Team received a Partners HealthCare Sustainable Initiatives Earth Day Award. Partners HealthCare Inc. launched the award series this year to recognize teams and individuals who have dedicated significant effort to reinforce sustainable initiatives throughout the Partners facilities.
Dawn Lucier, a physical therapist who co-chairs the Green Team with Ms. Gale, added that RHCI is well on its way to implementing three new goals for 2010: achieving total mercury-free status; investigating alternative energy sources including wind and solar power; and offering healthy food choices by buying and supporting local farmers and suppliers who buy locally.
Each state is responsible for inspecting nursing homes every nine to 15 months for license renewal. These inspections are unannounced and include a review of more than 150 regulations. According to latest statistics, only 24 percent of the 429 skilled nursing facilities surveyed in Massachusetts achieved a deficiency-free annual survey.
Cape Regency, a Radius Healthcare Center in Centerville, has announced that is among that small percentage, earning deficiency-free status following its annual Department of Public Health Survey in May.
“This is truly an incredible achievement for the staff at Cape Regency, they have made all of us at Radius extremely proud,” said Tom Lavallee, Vice President of Operations for Radius, the company which owns and manages Cape Regency (which includes Brookside Assisted Living at Regency) and its sister facility, Cape Heritage in Sandwich.
Cape Regency and Brookside provide services that include short-term rehabilitation, dementia care, end of life care, traditional assisted living and memory supported assisted living.
Results from state inspections are public information and each nursing home is required to post its most recent state inspection results. The inspections assess compliance with standards of patient care such as staffing, quality of care and cleanliness.
By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety, Cape Medical Supply has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™.
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission is dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation's health care through voluntary accreditation. Cape Medical Supply, which provides home oxygen, CPAP and home medical equipment services, received the accreditation award after The Joint Commission found that it had demonstrated compliance with The Joint Commission's national standards for home care organizations. The unannounced four day on-site survey occurred in May of 2010.
Meanwhile, Cape Medical Supply also received the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce 2010 Business Excellence Award in the Healthcare category. Citing the company’s patient-first approach, deep community involvement, and award-winning service and care, the Chamber awarded the company the honor at an SBA recovery event April 29.
Cape Medical Supply Chief Executive Officer Gary Sheehan is a member of the Advisory Board of To Your Good Health, A Health Care Newsletter, as is Steve Abbott, former President/CEO of Cape Cod Healthcare, and a previous winner of the Chamber award.
Dr. Richard Zelman, F.A.C.C., Director of Cape Cod Healthcare’s Interventional Cardiology program, has been recognized by the Commonwealth based on data accumulated over three years as being the only interventional cardiologist in the state with better than expected outcomes for interventional cardiology procedures.
Dr. Zelman practices at Cape Cod Hospital, which also has built a track record of being the best hospital in Massachusetts for 30-day mortality for heart attack patients.
The State Department of Public Health’s Data Analysis Center (Mass-DAC) tracks physicians who perform interventional cardiology procedures, such as angioplasties. They identify four categories on the basis of risk-adjusted, in-hospital mortality rates and Dr. Zelman is the only cardiologist in the state in the lower-than-expected-mortality Silver category.
“To have Dr. Zelman and Cape Cod Hospital’s cardiac cath lab ranked at the top of this and other categories confirms what we’ve known for some time – heart patients at Cape Cod Hospital receive the best care in the world,” Dr. Richard Salluzzo, president/CEO of Cape Cod Healthcare, said in announcing the ratings.
Two administrators with strong healthcare and academic backgrounds have received major promotions at Cape Cod Community College. Dean Susan Miller has been named Interim Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs. And Rosemary Dillon succeeds her as Dean of Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Human Services. Ms. Dillon, MSN, had been Interim Dean, Academic and Student Affairs, Division of Health Sciences, Social Science and Human Services, and before that served as Director, Allied Health and Gerontology at the college.
Ms. Miller is a long-time member of the college community, first joining it as an Associate Professor of Nursing and then advancing through a series of academic and administrative positions.
Both administrators have been frequent contributors to discussions of the Advisory Board of To Your Good Health, A Health Care Newsletter. The appointments were announced by Dr. Kathleen Schatzberg, CCCC president and a member of the TYGH Advisory Board.
Cape Cod Lifeline Medical Alarms has received the Philips Service Award for Excellence in Service Standards.
Atria Woodbriar Senior Living in Falmouth announces it has received the highest customer satisfaction rating of any member of its national group. The composite 97.1 score represents a steady upward trend over the last three years.
Sandra Hedges has been promoted to Director of Geriatric Care Management at Overlook C.A.R.E.