Commitment to Quality Care and Patient Safety

Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics has been recognized with numerous national and state awards recognizing our organization as a leader in quality, patient safety and process improvement. Although the national focus on patient safety and quality of care are relatively new, Trinity Mother Frances has been firmly committed to these goals throughout our 70-year history. This commitment is reflected not only in the experiences of our patients, but is validated statistically by independent organizations that monitor hospital performance.

Mother Frances Hospital was the only hospital in east Texas to receive the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award of Excellence in 2007 from TMF health Quality Institute, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Texas. This award recognizes hospitals for improving care related to acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure and pneumonia. These clinical areas have been designated as national health care priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission, the nation's predominant independent, non-profit, standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

Also in 2008 and 2007, Mother Frances Hospital was identified by HealthGrades as a Distinguished Hospital for Patient Safety.

Recent submission by Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler of the Leapfrog Quality and Safety Survey resulted in a ranking of 424 out of 1256 participating hospitals across the country. This places Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler in the top one-third of all hospitals in the U.S. in the quality and safety scoring methods (see www.leapfroggroup.org/cp).

Patient safety is an important part of the culture of Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics. In 2005, Trinity Mother Frances was recognized by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for our “collaborative atmosphere that encourages open and honest participation by staff to resolve errors, improve processes and enhance patient safety.” JCAHO is using Trinity Mother Frances as an example of an outstanding culture of safety, and has featured our organization Health System in the September 2005 satellite broadcast, Physician Involvement in Patient Safety/Performance Improvement. JCAHO also reported on the Trinity Mother Frances patient safety program in an article in the July 2005 Joint Commission Perspectives on Patient Safety.

It is the Mission of Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics to enhance community health with compassion, excellence and efficiency. It is the Vision to create healthy lives for people and communities. And it is the Vision of Trinity Clinic to achieve national prominence in clinical medicine through excellence in quality and safety, research, education and innovation. These commitment statements are a reflection of the environment of learning and culture that honors and strives to continuously progress with the goal of helping improve the lives of others. Our quality and safety efforts are evidence of the depth of work that is underway and ongoing, with the well-being of the patient as the ultimate goal.

For further information, please visit the following websites:

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - www.cms.hhs.gov
• The Joint Commission - www.jointcommission.org
• The Leapfrog Group - www.leapfroggroup.org/cp
• Texas Health Care Information Collection - www.dshs.state.tx.us/thcic


Click here to view our Awards and Recognition from HealthGrades.