Quality

Recognition

SARANAC LAKE - The staff and physicians of Adirondack Medical Center are extremely grateful to the community for rating the quality of care at AMC higher than other hospitals in New York State and the nation.

Rightfully so, there has been an increasing push in recent years for transparency within the health care industry. For several years now, AMC has participated in this movement, and information about patients' experience of hospital care is being shared publicly for the first time on the Hospital Quality Alliance's (HQA) website, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/. The HQA is a national public-private collaboration of hospital groups, consumer representatives, physician and nursing organizations, employers and payers, oversight organizations and government agencies dedicated to encouraging hospitals to voluntarily collect and make public quality of care information.

This public quality of care information is based upon the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey. Information for the HCAHPS report is culled from existing customer satisfaction surveys sent to individuals who utilize services at AMC. Because of this, AMC is strongly encouraging those who utilize our services to respond to the customer satisfaction survey, should they receive one. Information generated from these surveys is used by AMC to make improvements to the quality of care at the hospital.

The collected information in the HCAHPS survey includes 27 questions reported as 10 "composite" scores. Instead of asking patients how satisfied they were with their care, the HCAHPS survey asks how often different aspects of care were provided, such as how often a doctor listened to their questions or concerns.

Within those 10 scoring categories - communication with doctors, communication with nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communication about medicines, discharge information, cleanliness of the hospital environment, quietness of the hospital environment, overall rating of the hospital, and willingness to recommend the hospital - AMC exceeded the New York State and national average.

Most questions on the HCAHPS survey ask the patient to report on how frequently something occurred - "always," "usually," "sometimes," or "never."

"This is why it is so important to listen to the patients and to act upon the feedback they provide," said Chandler Ralph, President & CEO, "We want community members to know they can take pride in the fact that AMC is a better hospital because of their input."
Equally important, this national standard for collecting or publicly reporting health care consumer information enables valid comparisons to be made across all hospitals. The public at large can now make "apples to apples" comparisons among health care providers in the Tri-Lakes region, or across the nation if they so desire.

The quality of care information through HCAHPS is updated on a quarterly basis, and AMC will announce these results to the community both on its website and through a variety of local media outlets.

AMC Earns Distinction Through Quality Improvement

Following are snapshots of how Adirondack Medical Center fared in the most recent HCAHPS survey. The green bar represents Adirondack Medical Center, the blue bar represents the state average, and gold represents the national average. As you can see in the graphs, AMC exceeded both the state and national averages in most areas.

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AMC is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the American Osteopathic Association. Click here to view the JCAHO Public Notice.

Adirondack Medical Center's Bariatric Program and Dr. Michael Hill have been designated as a Center of Excellence by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.