Temple University Hospital Earns National Award for Patient Care Quality and Safety

Temple University Hospital (TUH) is one of only three hospitals nationwide to earn the 2015 Rising Star Award, an honor presented by the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) to academic medical centers that have made significant improvements in their annual rankings in UHC’s annual Quality and Accountability Study. The Study identifies exemplary performance in safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness, and equity of care.

The UHC is an alliance of over 100 of the nation's leading academic medical centers and their affiliated hospitals that collaborate on data-driven performance improvement. The UHC Quality and Accountability Study, begun in 2005, was designed to help identify structures and practices that are associated with high performance in patient care quality and safety.

TUH scored in the top 10% among all academic medical centers in three out of the six performance categories on UHC's 2015 Quality and Accountability Performance Scorecard (clinical effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of care) and scored in the top 25% in the mortality and safety categories. TUH achieved a top-quartile overall ranking on the scorecard and earned a four-star rating (out of five, maximum).

"This kind of performance showcases how targeted, physician-led strategies can drive notable improvement in the quality and efficiency of care," said Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS, President and CEO of Temple University Health System, Dean of Temple University School of Medicine, and Senior Executive Vice President for Health Affairs of Temple University.

"Honors such as the UHC's 2015 Rising Star Award can only be achieved by physicians and staff who have made a commitment to high-performance healthcare that improves positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes," added TUH President & CEO John N. Kastanis, FACHE. "This is the kind of commitment that earns distinction at the national level and will solidify Temple University Hospital’s continued success."

TUH was presented with the award at the UHC Annual Conference 2015 in Orlando, Fla, which was attended by nearly 2,000 healthcare professionals from around the country.