South San Francisco, CA January 26, 2020 Submitted by Matt Skryja, Kaiser Permanente
KAISER PERMANENTE SAN FRANCISCO RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS
Hospital Receives Meritorious Recognition for High Scores in All Surgical Care Categories
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 24, 2020 – Kaiser Permanente San Francisco has been recognized with the highest rankings possible by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®). The organization awards the rankings based on the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures.
“This prestigious recognition demonstrates that Kaiser Permanente puts patient care at the forefront of everything we do,” said Ron Groepper, senior VP and area manager, Kaiser Permanente Greater San Francisco Area. “We are pleased to be recognized for the high-quality health care provided by our physicians, nurses, and staff.”
The ACS NSQIP recognition program recognizes a select group of hospitals each year. Scores are awarded in both the “All Cases” category and the “High Risk” category, which includes only high-risk cases. For each category, eight clinical factors are considered and scored. They are:
- Mortality
- Cardiac: cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction
- Pneumonia
- Unplanned Intubation
- Ventilator > 48 hours
- Renal Failure
- SSI: superficial incisional SSI, deep incisional SSI, and organ/space SSI
- UTI: urinary tract infection
Kaiser Permanente San Francisco received Meritorious scores in both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” categories. The hospital has received these high scores for the last three years.
“We are proud of our teamwork to continually improve surgical outcomes,” said Assistant Physician in Chief – Surgical Quality, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, James Constant, MD. “We continually strive to improve our processes in order to advance surgical quality and safety. NSQIP allows us to compare our results, in an ongoing basis, to the entire country.”
Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Surgical services encompass procedures that are urgent, elective, routine, and specialized.
“We do some of the most complex surgery in Northern California, and we rely on an excellent team of surgical specialists to get the job done with the highest regard for quality and safety – from gender reassignment, colorectal, and hepatobiliary surgeries to cardiac, robotic, and gynecologic oncology surgeries,” said Assistant Physician in Chief – Operating Room, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, Michael Vostrejs, MD. “This award recognizes our long history of providing excellent, high-quality care to patients across Northern California”.
To be eligible for either list, a hospital must have submitted at least one medical case for 2016, 2017, and 2018. However, the current awards are based only on hospital performance in 2018. Kaiser Permanente San Francisco is in a select group, as just 56 out of 592 eligible hospitals were recognized on both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” lists.
“Every Kaiser Permanente Northern California Hospital works together in one of the largest NSQIP collaboratives,” said Constant. “It is especially gratifying to be recognized for excellent outcomes given the depth and breadth of patient care and the large, multi-disciplinary team working together for our patients.”
ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery. Furthermore, when adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced and/or eliminated, a reduction in health care costs follows.
About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 82,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.3 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information go to https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/.