MCSA Ranked Number One by Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care

By JOHN WORTHEN
News-Times Staff

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care has ranked the Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado number one among 45 state-wide acute care hospitals that fall under Medicare’s Prospective Payment System.

A PPS is a method of reimbursement in which Medicare payment is made based on a predetermined, fixed amount. The ranking — compiled using the AFMC’s fourth quarter 2008 data — is based on criteria set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid as part of the Appropriate Care Measure Report.

According to the AFMC, ACMs report on Medicare quality measures related to heart failure, pneumonia, heart attacks and surgical care infection prevention.

Rosanne Hudoba, chief quality officer for the MCSA, explained that the study “measures patients readmission rates with diagnoses, how well patients are cared for while they are with us, and how well we do in allowing our patients to learn about their illnesses so they can walk away with knowledge of how to care for themselves after they leave us.”

Added Hudoba, “We have a very comprehensive and aggressive program to make sure that we deliver our patients the high quality of care that falls under these guidelines. We are committed to our community to provide the best care possible.”

The MCSA also ranked fourth among 73 hospitals statewide among both PPS and critical care facilities. This ranking is determined after PPS scores and critical care scores are averaged together.

Hudoba said that everyone at MCSA is “thrilled” about both rankings. And she credited all staff members for rallying together to make it happen.

“We have strong leadership within our medical staff and they are committed to this,” said Hudoba. “They have developed protocols and guidelines when patients are admitted.

“These patients are moving through continuum of care. They are in cath lab radiology, they are everywhere. They are exposed to lots of different departments, and everyone is doing their part to make sure we provide a high level of care. The numbers bear it out.”

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