Welcome to the 2008-2009 Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award Program

The Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award program for Texas hospitals is being sponsored again in 2008-2009 by TMF Health Quality Institute. TMF, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Texas, established the awards program in partnership with the Texas Hospital Association, Texas Medical Association, Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals and Texas Osteopathic Medical Association. This non-competitive award program is designed to build on the quality of care that you already provide for your patients.

Evidence of the 2006-2007 award program’s success:

Out of approximately 375 hospitals in Texas, 183 nominated themselves for the award.
Of the 183 hospitals, 88 met the award criteria to qualify, with 63 receiving the highest award, the Award of Excellence, and 25 receiving the Quality Improvement Achievement Award.
23 award recipients were rural and/or Critical Access Hospitals.
Hospitals were presented with their awards in a formal ceremony in Austin on June 28, 2007, with 220 hospital professionals attending. In addition to postings on the TMF Web site, award recipients were recognized in the media almost 50 times, with stories being picked up by metropolitan business journals in key Texas cities such as Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Award's stories were featured in the Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star Telegram, San Antonio Express-News and other online and print publications such as Yahoo Finance, Forbes.com, MarketWatch, Managed Care online and Texas Hospitals.

This year’s award program will have an award solely for Critical Access Hospitals. Critical Access Hospitals enrolled in the award program will be working on improving care related to heart failure and pneumonia.

For Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) acute care hospitals, the award program is again based on improving care related to acute myocardial infarction, heart failure and pneumonia. In addition to these three clinical topic areas, the surgical care improvement project indicators have been added.

The Appropriate Care Measure will once again be the methodology used for the award program. Other requirements of this year’s program include passing validation, having acceptable Medicare mortality scores and submission of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) data, if applicable.

How does my hospital get involved?

Applications are no longer being accepted. Nominations for the 2008-2009 award program were accepted through January 31, 2008.

What determines an award winner?

See the award criteria section of this Web site.

How will my hospital be recognized if we should receive an award?

Hospitals meeting the criteria will receive a crystal trophy or framed certificate in recognition of their accomplishments.
Recipients will be invited to an award ceremony and reception where they will be honored for their achievements, have the chance to network with other hospital recipients and meet representatives from organizations sponsoring the award.
TMF will launch a media campaign to announce recipients statewide in medical publications, magazines and news services and will also provide a press kit for hospitals to use with their local broadcast and print media.

Who should I contact if I have more questions?

If you have more questions about the program, feel free to contact Becky Heinsohn at 866-439-5863 or bheinsohn@txqio.sdps.org