VHA Inc. Recognizes 38 Hospitals for Clinical Excellence

IRVING, TX, May 18 (MARKET WIRE) --
VHA Inc., a national health care alliance, has honored 38 hospitals with
the 2009 VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence.

The VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence recognizes hospitals that
improved clinical quality, patient safety or the patient experience, and
the winners had to meet defined standards for patient care from the third
quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2008.

The VHA Clinical Excellence Award for Clinical Quality recognizes
hospitals that achieved a composite score in the top quartile across all
four core measure categories (treating heart attacks, surgical infection
prevention, treating heart failure, and treating and preventing
hospital-acquired pneumonia) or that demonstrated the highest level of
sustained decile improvement each quarter in one of these areas.

The VHA Clinical Excellence Award for Patient Safety recognizes hospitals
that had zero cases of catheter-related blood stream infections and
ventilator-associated pneumonia cases for the most recent 12 consecutive
quarters. Hospitals that demonstrated the highest levels of improvement in
either one of these important prevention efforts were also recognized.

Finally, several VHA member hospitals received the VHA Clinical Excellence
Award for the Patient Experience, which honors hospitals that achieved
high scores in all six of the HCAHPS composite categories:

-- Doctor communications
-- Nurse communications
-- Responsiveness of hospitals staff
-- Pain management
-- Communications about medications
-- Discharge instructions

NOTE: Several VHA member hospitals won more than one award for
Clinical Excellence.

VHA serves more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and more than 24,000
non-acute health care organizations nationwide.

"VHA Leadership Award winners demonstrate that excellence can be achieved
with the proper focus on quality, safety, and patient experience," said
Trent Haywood, M.D., J.D., chief medical officer at VHA.

For a complete list of 2009 VHA Leadership Award winners, go to
www.vha.com/leadershipawards. For more information on VHA, go to
www.vha.com.

Based in Irving, Texas, VHA Inc. is a national network of not-for-profit
health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in
the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance, and
identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency
and clinical outcomes. Formed in 1977, VHA serves more than 1,400
hospitals and more than 23,000 non-acute care providers nationwide.

NOTE: VHA is not an acronym; use VHA Inc. on first reference and VHA
thereafter.

Media Contact:
Lynn Gentry
972/830-0798
Email Contact

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