MIDDLETOWN, OH — Middletown Regional Hospital (MRH) has earned three leadership awards for excellence from VHA Inc., a national care alliance based in Irving, Texas. MRH was recognized for excellence in cardiac care and in supply chain management improvement. And because MRH won in two award categories, it was also presented with the President's Award of Honor, a distinction earned by only 10 other VHA hospitals across the nation. The awards will be presented to the hospital on May 21 at VHA's Leadership Conference in St. Louis, MO.

"We're pleased and proud to be honored with these awards," says Carol Turner, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Middletown Regional Hospital. "Our award for excellence in cardiac care is a direct result of the dedication of our clinical staff and physicians to improve the care we provide to patients with congestive heart failure."

By incorporating evidence-based measures into a cardiac patient's plan of care, MRH is able to monitor and measure the overall rate of improvement, directly resulting in improved outcomes. Best-practice standards for congestive heart failure include ACE inhibitors or beta blocker administration for left ventricular systolic dysfunction, detailed discharge instructions provided to patient, left ventricular function assessment performed on patient and adult smoking cessation advice/counseling provided to patient prior to discharge. MRH achieved at least a 90 percent compliance with all rate-based indicators to qualify for this award.

"The Leadership Award for Supply Chain Management Improvement represents the dedication of our supply chain team to improve purchasing processes and to distribute and manage the materials and products we need to care for our patients and run the hospital," says Turner. "Supplies are the second largest expense category for hospitals, behind salaries, so controlling these costs enables us to invest savings back into the organization — in technology and improved services for our patients," she adds.

The VHA Leadership Award for Supply Chain Management Improvement encompasses a variety of areas and is evidence MRH has optimized the efficiency and effectiveness of its supply chain program. Hospitals' supply chain programs are evaluated on criteria, such as their ability to make superior product selection decisions, use of technology assessment teams, focus on patient safety and how well they incorporate strategies, such as standardization and efforts to use supplies more effectively.

VHA 2006 Leadership Awards are based on the latest set of measures that have been nationally accepted as indicators of quality.