VHHA Releases New Patient Experience Video Highlighting Hospitals’ Patient-Centric Focus

March 29, 2016

New Video Showcases How Virginia’s Local Hospitals and Health Systems’ Dedication to Patients is Central to Providing Quality Care

RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association’s Center for Healthcare Excellence has unveiled a new video featuring Virginia hospital patients sharing testimonials about the quality care, comfort, compassion, and communication they and their loved ones received while being treated at various local hospitals and health systems. The video’s release in March arrives after National Patient Safety Awareness Week was observed earlier this month.
The online video features patients and footage from Augusta Health in Fishersville, Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, University of Virginia Health System, and Valley Health’s Page Memorial Hospital. Some of the most poignant moments in the video come when individual hospital patients and their family members discuss their positive hospital experience, even amid personal uncertainty due to medical conditions. People featured in the video attribute that to the responsiveness, attentiveness, and personal touch provided by caring hospital staff members.

The video is an outgrowth of the VHHA member-led Patient Experience Forum, and is part of an ongoing effort by Virginia hospitals to enhance patients’ care experience as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey.

“We should treat the patient as if we’re walking into their house, instead of them walking into our house. We should make this the patient’s home while they’re here,” said Toni R. Ardabell, Bon Secours Richmond Health System’s Chief Executive Officer, about hospitals’ philosophy towards patients.

“At VHHA, we talk about the four Cs as an easy way to help people remember what’s important when taking care of patients,” added Ardabell, who is featured in the video. “The first thing is caring about that patient as an individual. The second is compassion – bring your whole self to work as a human being. Another is comforting families and patients, which might be achieved with pain medication, or through a conversation to explain what is happening. Optimal care is patient-centered and unique to individuals. Delivering quality care is about tailoring plans for patients and their family, not simply providing cookie-cutter plans of care.”

Virginia’s local hospitals and health systems are already making strides on patient safety and quality. Hospital Safety Score recently named Virginia a top state on patient safety metrics. In addition, VHHA’s Center for Healthcare Excellence continues to be involved in the ongoing Partnership for Patients initiative – a nationwide public-private collaboration that began in 2011 to reduce preventable hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and 30-day readmissions by 20 percent. In affiliation with the American Hospital Association/Health Research & Educational Trust (AHA/HRET) Hospital Engagement Network (HEN), Virginia is participating in a second round of HEN to continue working to improve patient care in the hospital setting.

“By working with members and stakeholders on such efforts, VHHA is focused on transforming Virginia’s health care system to achieve top tier performance in safety, quality, value, service, and population health,” said Abraham Segres, VHHA Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety and the Executive Director of VHHA’s Center for Healthcare Excellence. “Highlighting through video a few of the many, daily examples of local hospitals’ caring approach to delivering positive patient outcomes is one way to share that with the public. Efforts such as this to advance health outcomes and opportunity for all Virginians is a part of hospitals’ broader goal to make the Commonwealth the healthiest state in the nation by 2020.”

About VHHA: The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association is an alliance of 107 hospitals and 30 health delivery systems that develops and advocates for sound health care policy in the Commonwealth. Its vision is to achieve excellence in both health care and health.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Julian Walker
Vice President of Communications
(804) 297-3193 office
(804) 304-7402 mobile
jtwalker@vhha.com