North Fulton Hospital in Roswell has been named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Quality Honor Roll. North Fulton Hospital is one of 16 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Chairman’s category, the highest on the list.

The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The data was collected from January 2009 to December 2009.

“This is a great accomplishment for North Fulton Hospital,” said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “This recognition further underscores the commitment of the North Fulton Hospital staff to ensuring that every patient receives the best, most effective health care possible.”

All acute care hospitals are required to submit care data to CMS. This data details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of eight Appropriate Care Measures (ACM), which are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for patients who have suffered heart attacks, heart failure or pneumonia. The ACM is a composite measure that determines whether or not a patient received the right care at the right time.

For instance, a recommended treatment to help prevent a heart attack is to take aspirin either before or upon arrival at the hospital, as well as at discharge. A suggested treatment for pneumonia is to administer an antibiotic within four hours of a patient’s arrival. A hospital’s adherence to these recommended clinical practices usually leads to better outcomes.

“It is our mission to ensure that each of our patients receives the right care at the right time and this recognition validates this,” said Debbie Keel, chief executive officer of North Fulton Hospital. “This honor is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff who are constantly working to make excellent care even better.”

About NFH

North Fulton Hospital (NFH), part of Tenet Georgia, is a 202-bed, acute-care hospital located on Highway 9, Alpharetta Highway, in Roswell.  Opened in 1983, NFH serves North Fulton and surrounding counties through its team of over 1000 employees, 400 staff physicians and 200 volunteers.  NFH is a state-designated Level II trauma center and provides a continuum of services through its centers and programs, including neurosciences, orthopedics, rehabilitation, surgical services, gastroenterology and oncology.  The hospital is fully accredited and also is certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency.

About PHA

The Partnership for Health and Accountability, formed in January 2000 and sponsored by the Georgia Hospital Association, is a unique statewide collaborative that brings together health care providers with community agencies and individuals to achieve healthy communities. PHA includes representation from groups like hospitals, physicians, state health officials, legislators and businesses.