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Adventist Health Howard Memorial Receives Highest Honor for Excellence in Person-Centered Care
Wednesday, November 06, 2019 (Willits, CA) – Adventist Health Howard Memorial Hospital has been awarded Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care by Planetree International. This Person-Centered Care Certification® recognizes the organization’s achievement and innovation in the delivery of person-centered care. Adventist Health Howard Memorial Hospital is one of only 96 healthcare organizations worldwide to earn this prestigious award.
Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care represents the highest level of achievement in person-centered care, based on evidence and standards. Person-centered healthcare prioritizes the active participation of patients, residents, and their families throughout the healthcare process with an emphasis on partnership, compassion, transparency, inclusion, and quality.
“The Planetree Certification is the only award that recognizes excellence in person-centeredness across the continuum of care,” said Susan Frampton, President of Planetree International, a not-for-profit organization that has been at the forefront of the movement to transform healthcare from the perspective of patients for more than 40 years. “This Gold Certification signals to its patients, and community that Adventist Health Howard Memorial Hospital is an organization where staff partner with patients and families, and where patient and family comfort, dignity, empowerment and well-being are prioritized as key elements of providing top-quality clinical care.”
This certification recognizes AHHM’s excellence in patient-centered care. This makes the hospital one of only 96 organizations worldwide, one of 27 in the nation and the only hospital in the North Bay to receive the Patient-Centered Hospital Designation since the program’s launch in 2007.
“I believe being person-centered has always been part of our culture. “The Planetree philosophy has become so ingrained, it’s just who we are,” shares Jason Wells, president of Adventist Health Howard Memorial.
“As a community hospital, we’ve always had a culture of accountability because the people we care for are our own friends and neighbors. Planetree has helped us build on that culture event more and added structure and milestones for us to achieve. This certification signifies our commitment to this community to give them the very best care on so many levels. This is a result of the hard work and input of not just our team, but also our physicians and providers, volunteers and our community who shared opportunities for improvement,” he adds.
AHHM has been on a journey to improve quality and patient experience for quite some time. In 2014, the hospital was recognized with the Bronze recognition, to celebrate their progress along the culture change journey. “We know our community deserves the very best care. So our team was determined to skip the silver recognition and go for the gold. Because of our culture of excellence and caring for our patients like family, there were already so many things we were doing that were part of the Planetree criteria to get the Gold certification,” shares Becky Hope, experience manager for the hospital.
To achieve the Planetree certification, healthcare organizations must rank high in national measures of quality and patient satisfaction and meet more than 60 specific criteria that support a patient-centered healthcare experience. The standards were developed based on the results of focus groups with patients, family members and healthcare professionals around the country.
As part of the certification process, Planetree representatives visited AHHM earlier this year to speak directly with patients, family members, hospital leadership, caregivers, and others. Focus group participants candidly shared their experiences at Howard. The site visit team found that patients feel listened to, respected, and well-cared for, and that caregivers feel informed, empowered, and appropriately recognized.
To help celebrate this prestigious achievement, the hospital invites the community for a “golden” event at the hospital on Tuesday, November 12, from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. There will be appetizers and booths showcasing the elements of Planetree that the hospital has implemented that helped them earn this recognition.
“Our community is what inspired us to work hard to get this recognition and they will be the one who will benefit the most. Our success is their success, so we want to celebrate with them,” concludes Wells.