Rapides Regional Medical Center was named Thursday a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission accrediting agency for the nation’s hospitals.

Rapides Regional Medical Center is the only acute care hospital in Central Louisiana recognized as a Top Performer.  It is also one of just 147 hospitals in the country to be named a Top Performer in each of the past four years since The Joint Commission began recognizing top performing hospitals.

“This distinction from The Joint Commission is a tribute to our dedicated employees and medical staff,” said Jason Cobb, Rapides Regional Medical Center president and chief executive officer.

The Top Performer on Key Quality Measures program recognizes Joint Commission-accredited hospitals that attain and sustain excellence in accountability measure performance. This annual recognition program occurs in the fall each year.  The Top Performer on Key Quality Measures program is designed to inspire better performance on accountability measures and to serve as an incentive for all hospitals to improve and provide the best care possible.

According to the 2014 Executive Summary of The Joint Commission Annual Report on Quality and Safety, each of the 1,099 Top Performer hospitals met three performance criteria based on 2013 accountability measure data.  A recognized hospital must:

1) achieve cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures;

2) achieve performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure where there are at least 30 denominator cases; and

3) have at least one core measure set that has a composite rate of 95 percent or above.

A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of every 100 opportunities to provide the practice.

RRMC was recognized for performing at 95 percent or above in Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Pneumonia and Surgical Care.

This year, The Joint Commission recognized 1,244 hospitals as a Top Performer, an increase of 11 percent from a year ago. More than 3,300 Joint Commission-accredited hospitals contributed data.