Sound Physicians Receives Recognition from The Permanente Journal - Award presented at Institute for Healthcare Improvement's National Quality Forum
Sound Physicians receives a Service Quality Award from The Permanente Journal, a leading peer-reviewed medical journal, at the Institute for Health Care Improvement's 23rd Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care Dec. 4-7.

TACOMA, WA, December 11, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sound Physicians, a leading hospitalist organization focused on driving improvements in quality, satisfaction and financial performance of inpatient healthcare delivery, received a Service Quality Award from The Permanente Journal, a leading peer-reviewed medical journal.

The award recognized one of Sound Physicians three educational posters presented at 23rd Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care hosted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Dec. 4-7 in Orlando, Fla.

The educational poster, "Hardwiring Best Practices to Improve Inpatient Satisfaction and HCAHPS Scores for Hospital-Based Physicians" provides a practical overview of Sound Physicians efforts to strengthen clinician and patient satisfaction scores at a community hospital, including a summary of key tactics taken to drive significant, measurable improvements.

"We're very interested in raising awareness of quality improvement efforts, in healthcare delivery," said Tom Janisse, MD, MBA, editor-in-chief of The Permanente Journal and Publisher of The Permanente Press. "We select storyboards that illustrate an innovative and patient-centered approach to improving healthcare delivery."

As part of the recognition by The Permanente Journal, a more comprehensive white paper outlining Sound Physicians patient satisfaction improvement strategy will be submitted for publication in an upcoming edition of the medical journal.

This year marks the fifth year that The Permanente Journal has recognized thought leaders sharing storyboards at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's national quality event. The conference drew nearly 6,000 healthcare leaders from around world. Other posters presented by Sound Physicians at the conference included:

• "Performance Improvements via High-Impact Diagnoses" - Sound Physicians' evidence-based, data-driven clinical operating approach to measurably improve quality and efficiency for specific diagnoses: The project outlined site assessment, data analysis, and re-engineering of workflows to support interventions relating to Medicare Core Measure tracking, ancillary utilization, early identification of anticipated discharges, discharge facilitation and other actions.
• "Multidisciplinary Approach to Reduce Readmissions" - Lessons learned from Sound Physicians' evidence-based effort to reduce 30-day readmission rates for patients with selected diagnoses cared for by hospitalist teams: Key components of Sound Physicians Readmissions Management Initiative include disease-specific patient education, diagnostic chart review for patients with a previous admission within 90 days, scheduling of follow-up appointments before a patient leaves the hospital and targeted follow-up from a dedicated patient call center.

To download a copy of these storyboards, visit the Sound Physicians website by clicking here.

Press Release Contact Information:

Daven Rosener
Sound Physicians
Senior Communications Manager
1123 Pacific Ave.
Tacoma, WA
USA 98402
Voice: 253-682-6057
Website: Visit Our Website