Lourdes Health System has received a nearly $150,000 award from Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey in recognition of efforts to improve quality and patient safety.

Horizon awards funding based on data captured in the 2011 Leapfrog Hospital Survey. The survey evaluated hospital performance within 20 standard national quality and resource utilization measures. The measures were then weighted to come up with a score. This was Lourdes' second year participating in the program, which focused on patient safety and quality. Thirty-one hospitals statewide received funds.

"As our previous awards from HealthGrades, the Joint Commission, U.S. News and World Report and others have indicated, quality and patient safety are top priorities at Lourdes," said Alan R. Pope, MD, FACP, FCCP, Chief Medical Officer. "The Horizon Recognition /Leapfrog program has allowed us to focus on a number of different areas."

Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center and Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County were evaluated separately against data collected from 1,066 hospitals in 43 states.

Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center scored well in:

• Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) quality
• Aortic valve replacement quality
• "Never" events
• High-risk delivery quality
• Acute myocardial infarction quality
• ICU physician staffing
• Pressure ulcer rate
• Hospital injuries rate
• PCI resource use

Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County scored well in:

• "Never" events
• Pressure ulcer rate
• Hospital injuries rate
• Central line infection rate
• Acute myocardial infarction resource use

"We sincerely appreciate Lourdes efforts in providing quality care and services to our members and to the communities they serve, as well as the health system's ongoing commitment to quality improvement initiatives," said Christy W. Bell, Horizon Executive Vice President of Healthcare Management.

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For media inquiries, please contact Lauren Markin at Markinl@lourdesnet.org or (856) 705-1375.