Cole Memorial was named one of the nation's "Top Performers on Key Quality Measures" by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America. The Cole Memorial team was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, children's asthma, stroke and venous thrombo-embolism, as well as inpatient psychiatric services.

Cole Memorial is one out of 18 percent of the more than 3,400 Joint Commission accredited hospitals in the U.S. and the only one in this region to earn the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. Cole was recognized for its achievement on the following measure sets: surgical care and pneumonia reduction. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2011 calendar year.

Each of the hospitals that were named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures met two 95 percent (95/95) performance thresholds on 2011 accountability measure data. First, each hospital achieved performance of 95 percent or above on a single, composite score that includes all the accountability measures for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, including measures that had fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. Second, each hospital met or exceeded 95 percent performance on every accountability measure for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, excluding any measures with fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice - for example, giving aspirin at arrival for heart attack patients, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery, and providing a home management plan for children with asthma.

"When we raise the bar and provide the proper guidance and tools, hospitals have responded with excellent results," says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president, The Joint Commission. "This capacity for continual improvement points toward a future in which quality and safety defects are dramatically reduced and high reliability is sought and achieved with regularity. Such day-to-day progress will slowly but surely transform today's health care system into one that achieves unprecedented performance outcomes for the benefit of the patients."

"We are proud to be named on the list of The Joint Commission's Top Performers on Key Quality Measures.â? said Cole Memorialâ??s President and CEO Ed Pitchford. â??Delivering safe, effective care to patients at Cole is a priority. That's why we make a serious commitment to accreditation and to positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes."

In addition to being included in today's release of The Joint Commission's "Improving America's Hospitals' annual report, Cole Memorial will be recognized on The Joint Commission's Quality Check website (www.gualitycheck.org). The Top Performer program will be featured in the October issues of The Joint Commission Perspectives and The Joint Commission: The Source.

Charles Cole Memorial Hospital and its ten rural health care centers serve over 50,000 residents within a 65-mile service area including Potter, Cameron, McKean and Tioga Counties in Pennsylvania and New Yorkâ??s southern tier. For more information, please connect on Facebook or visit www.charlescolehospital.com.