Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Shady Grove Adventist Hospital of Rockville recently earned two distinctions that hospital officials say reassures the community of the level of health care it provides.
The awards represent a stark contrast from nearly a decade ago when the facility was reeling from accusations of patient care problems.
Thomson Reuters, a company that compiles data and information for businesses and leaders in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, recognized the hospital as one of the 100 Top Hospitals Performance Improvement Leaders for 2007 and the American College of Surgeons granted the hospital's cancer program a three-year approval with commendation. Thomson Reuters is owned by the Reuters news organization.
In October 1999, Shady Grove became the target of investigations by state, federal and accrediting officials after reports of patient care problems surfaced. Subsequently, the hospital's accreditation was downgrades by the Illinois-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the independent accrediting agency, pending a review of its operations and polices.
A series of leadership changes followed and the hospital subsequently regained higher levels of accreditation.
"We look at these as recognition that the community can trust us," Shady Grove President Dennis Hansen said.
Although the hospital had to seek out recognition for its cancer program, being named on the 100 Top Performance Improvement list was given by an outside agency, Hansen said.
That award recognized five-years of consistent improvement by analyzing data from the hospital and rating the information based on eight factors — patient mortality, medical complications, patient safety, length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio and use of evidence-based medicine.
"The collaboration and teamwork of employees, medical staff, executives and boards have helped us achieve this important national recognition," Hansen said.
William G. Robertson, president of Adventist HealthCare, the hospital's parent company, and chair of Shady Grove's Governance Board, agreed the achievement was a collaborative effort.
"This accomplishment highlights the great strides that the SGAH team has made to meet the changing and growing health care needs of our community in recent years," Robertson said. "We are pleased to be recognized as one of the top community hospitals in the country."
The recognition given to the cancer program, granted by the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer, is highly sought after and only given to 25 percent of the hospitals in the country, Hansen said.
"This designation means the cancer patients in our community can receive the care they need close to home," Hansen said.
He added that in order to earn the approval, the hospital went through an "elaborate and extensive" evaluation process and performance review.
"Shady Grove's comprehensive cancer program is lead by a multidisciplinary team that works together to coordinate the best possible care for our patients and community," said Deborah Pollak, executive director of cancer services for Adventist HealthCare and Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.
Hansen said winning the two awards is important to the hospital because "providing high-quality, compassionate care is a top priority for us."
