Parkland Health Center is one of only two Missouri hospitals selected for the 2007 "100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success" award by Thomson Healthcare (previously Solucient).

The 100 Top Hospitals award goes to facilities achieving the highest national score based on the combined rank on eight measures affecting patients and the community including outcomes, safety, efficiency, financial stability and basic care standards.

To select the 100 benchmark facilities, 3018 hospitals were scored against the others within one of five categories. To make the top 100 roster, Parkland scored in the top 20 of all small community hospitals in the nation.

"This is truly a team award and congratulations go to our 700 employees," says Rick Conklin, president. "We began a program -- Journey to Excellence -- about five years ago, and this confirms that our efforts are really making a difference."

The Journey to Excellence program involves a change of culture in how employees treated each other, visitors and patients, and also includes group accountability. The result is improved care for patients and better retention of employees. Parkland Health Center's employee turnover rate is among the lowest in BJC HealthCare.

Part of this success results from another program -- Relationship Based Care. "This puts the patients' needs first, not what is most efficient for us to do," says Conklin. "For example, we now do shift-to-shift reporting at the bedside. This gives the patient an opportunity to add information, voice concerns and be actively involved in their plan of care while in the Hospital."

Thomson Healthcare, a national health care information company, performs the study annually -- at its own expense -- to share new standards being set by the hospital industry. They use only public Medicare data, so all hospitals can be measured and reliable standards reported.

Thomson Healthcare reports that the benefits to having a 100 Top Hospitals National award winner in the community include:

• Patients are less likely to have complications or adverse safety events
• Patients are more likely to receive care efficiently at a reasonable comparative cost
• The community can rely on the hospital as a well-managed major employer that invests in newer technology and services

"The specialties we have are phenomenal," says Chuck Carleton, director, medical staff services. "We can offer our patients the latest, best care. If we are not able to provide it, we will secure it through our connection with other BJC HealthCare hospitals."

"Our patients receive incredible care here. We have worked hard on exceeding national patient safety goals, improved staff to patient ratios, and work with our physicians to help them meet the goals established" says Kathy Hight, assistant administrator, patient care services. "And we make sure our employees like working here, are committed, and engaged. It's a win/win for everyone."