The first award acknowledges quality improvement efforts by AGH in inpatient clinical performance in the care and treatment of heart failure and pneumonia, outpatient clinical performance in the care and treatment of chest pain, and improving care related to Emergency Department Transfers. This is the second year in a row AGH has received this award.

“Through evidence-based care, delivering the right treatments at the right time, and ensuring the patients are prepared for a successful transition home is our focus. Our goal is to always provide excellent care to our patients, families, and our communities we serve,” said Margaret Brown, RN, Clinical Quality Coordinator for Allegan General Hospital.

In March, 2010, AGH joined efforts with the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) and 73 other facilities throughout the state, in a Keystone project with the focus on patient throughput in the Emergency Room. Presently AGH has seven beds in the ER with plans in place to eventually expand to 15 beds.

“Our patient volume in the ER has increased from 11,000 to 14,000 annually,” said Brown. “Because of this increase, we have increased staffing by adding an additional Registered Nurse and one Mid-level provider during peak times. This change has resulted in the reduction of wait times expediting the necessary treatment of patients in need, decreasing patients leaving without being seen and against medical advice -- all resulting in a safer environment of care for our patients, families, and providers.”

“Allegan General Hospital has shown exceptional commitment to providing their patients with high quality health care,” said John Barnas, Executive Director of the Michigan Center for Rural Health. “We are pleased to sponsor this award and recognize the dedication of hospital staff to provide the right care to the right patient each and every time.”

The Patient Safety Award recognizes the initiative that best exemplified effective applications and efforts designed to improve patient care delivered within Critical Access Hospitals. This is the first year the Michigan Center for Rural Health has offered this award. Allegan General received this award by implementing innovative ideas and achieving measurable outcomes in patient safety by collaborative efforts with Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) as well as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Aligning Forces for Quality.

AGH joined the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Keystone: Surgery collaborative to improve the safety of the perioperative environment. Its goals are to eliminate surgical site infections, prevent mislabeling of specimens, prevent defects in care (including serious adverse events such as wrong-site surgery and retained foreign objects), and improve or reinforce the culture of safety in the Operating Room (OR). The team at AGH was recognized throughout the state by MHA for being one of the top rated providers in the area of safety and always providing excellent surgical care.

“The winners of the Michigan Center for Rural Health’s premier Patient Safety Award have not only shown outstanding performance in patient safety, but an exceptional commitment to healthcare ingenuity, resourcefulness and teamwork in providing patients with high quality health care,” said John Barnas, Executive Director of the Michigan Center for Rural Health. “We are pleased to sponsor this award and recognize the dedication of hospital staff to provide the right care to the right patient each and every time.”

Allegan General Hospital was honored by The Michigan Center for Rural Health at an awards ceremony during the 12th Annual Michigan Critical Access Hospital Conference October 27, 2011 in Gaylord, Mich. The Michigan Center for Rural Health is a non-profit organization formed in 1991 as part of a nation-wide, federal and state initiative to recognize the importance of rural health care and to create a mechanism for resources to flow to rural areas.

Allegan General Hospital is a community hospital that focuses on providing exceptional, compassionate and personalized healthcare to the community it serves. The hospital has been named two years in a row by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare. Allegan General provides a wide range of healthcare services, including bariatrics, surgery, sleep center, emergency, physical rehabilitation and mental health. For more information about the hospital, visit www.aghosp.org.