Avera Bulletin August 2012
Avera McKennan Ranked First by U. S. News
Avera McKennan Hospital &
University Health Center has been ranked the No. 1 hospital in South Dakota by
U. S. News & World Report. Rankings are based in part on
patient safety, reputation and advanced technologies.
U. S. News & World Report
recently released its annual Best Hospitals rankings, the 23rd edition. This
year’s Best Hospitals list showcases more than 720 of the nation’s roughly
5,000 hospitals.
Avera McKennan also was
ranked No. 38 nationally in gynecology and received high-performing status in
nine medical specialties including cancer, diabetes and endocrinology,
gastroenterology, geriatrics, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery,
orthopedics, pulmonology and urology.
The rankings were published
by the magazine in collaboration with RTI International, a research
organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Highlights of the 2012 – 13
rankings are in the U. S. News Best Hospitals 2013 guidebook and are available
at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals.
Avera McKennan Garners Five-Star Recognition
Avera McKennan has been
awarded a Community Value Leadership Award by Cleverley + Associates, based in
Columbus, Ohio, with the designation Community Value Five-Star Provider.
The five-star recognition
goes to hospitals that achieve a Community Value Index® (CVI) score
in the top quintile (20 percent) of all hospitals in their group. Avera
McKennan was one of only three hospitals recognized in South Dakota, and the
only one in the Sioux Falls region. This is the fourth time Avera McKennan has
received this award since 2008.
The CVI was created to
provide a measure of the value that a hospital provides to its
community. The CVI is composed of 10 measures that assess a hospital’s
performance in four areas:
- Financial viability and plant reinvestment
- Hospital cost structure
- Hospital charge structure
- Hospital quality performance
Avera to Open Payment Center in Mitchell
Avera recently announced
plans to open a payment center in Mitchell, S.D., which initially will create
approximately 15 new jobs. There exists growth potential for up to 50 jobs. The
payment center will be located in the Avera Medical Plaza at 2200 N. Kimball.
The payment center will
process payments of Avera accounts from across the health system. Previously this work was outsourced and is
being brought back to the system.
“We are very excited to be
opening this payment center in Mitchell,” said John Porter, president and CEO
of Avera. “This is an opportunity for
Avera to invest in one of our key communities and better serve our patients.”
Hiring of a leadership team
has begun. By fall the center should be fully staffed and operational. The
Mitchell Area Development Corporation worked with Avera on this expansion
project to bring the business to the Mitchell area. Mike Rieck, president of Mitchell Development
noted, “We believe this expansion by Avera, which is creating new office jobs,
is a great fit for our community and will have good long-term impact on the
growth of our economy.”
Avera St. Luke’s Hospital and Avera Heart Hospital
Make Becker’s Hospital Rankings
Becker’s
Hospital Review recently published the 50 hospitals with the lowest 30-day
readmission rates for heart attack patients. The rankings are based on data
from July 2007 to June 2010 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services Hospital Compare database.
New Vice President of Supply Chain Joins Avera
Steven Wayne Huckabaa is the
new vice president of Supply Chain for Avera, assuming the position vacated by
Allen Caudle’s retirement. Since August 2004, Steven was chief Supply Chain
officer/purchasing executive for Kettering Health Network. Kettering Health
Network is an eight-hospital network with a college of medical arts, two
nursing homes, two retirement communities, a homecare agency and ambulatory
care centers serving the regions of Dayton and northern Cincinnati, Ohio.
