West Valley Hospital has been recognized as a “Best Practices Top Performer” in a multi-state Quality Health Indicators (QHi) performance-benchmarking program.

West Valley Hospital was recognized as a “top performer” for exemplary performance in minimizing hospital-acquired infections and for providing discharge instructions for patients admitted with a diagnosis of heart failure.

Eric Buckland, Executive Director of the Oregon Rural Health Care Quality Network noted that West Valley Hospital was one of only three participating critical access hospitals to score as a top performer in two or more measures. Critical access hospital is a designation used to describe very small hospitals, usually with 25 or fewer beds, and often located in rural areas. West Valley Hospital is the only hospital in Polk County.  

Buckland complimented West Valley Hospital for its commitment to quality and demonstrated leadership.

QHi is a web-based, clinical quality benchmarking tool utilized by small rural hospitals to evaluate internal processes of care and provides participating hospitals opportunities to improve practices by comparing specific measures of quality with like hospitals. More than 235 small rural hospitals in 16 states use QHi.

“Our participation in the Quality Health Indicator benchmarking program underscores our commitment to providing the best care to our patients and our community,” said Penny Edwards, West Valley Hospital’s quality coordinator. “We joined the web-based, multi-state benchmarking project because it allows us to compare our hospital’s quality data with other small rural hospitals on a monthly basis. The opportunity to compare our practices with those of so many other small rural hospitals is extremely valuable.”  

Each month, participating hospitals enter their quality data. To be designated by the ORHQN as a QHi Best Practices Top Performer for a particular quality measure, a hospital must be one of the top five hospital performers in the entire QHi 235-hospital database for three of the past four quarters.

“It’s an impressive achievement to be named a “Best Practices Top Performer” because we know it’s based on our own performance and compared to other small rural hospitals who are working just as hard as we are to deliver quality care to their patients and community,” said Pam Cortez, West Valley Hospital’s director of clinical operations.

Twelve of Oregon’s 25 critical access hospitals participate in the quality benchmarking program. More than 235 critical access hospitals in 16 other states also participate making this award very competitive. Three other Oregon hospitals received recognition by ORHQN: Peace Harbor Hospital in Florence, Cottage Grove Community Hospital and Lower Umpqua Hospital.

West Valley Hospital is a critical access hospital offering 24-hour emergency care, as well as inpatient and outpatient services to people in the Polk County area. A part of Salem Health, West Valley Hospital and its affiliates, Monmouth Medical Center, Physicians & Surgeons Clinic, and Surgical Specialty Clinic, partner with Salem Hospital for additional health care services. Visit us at westvalleyhospital.org, salemhealth.org and facebook.com/salemhealth; follow us on Twitter: @salemhealth; and view us at youtube.com/salemhealth.