BJC is a national leader in the effort to improve patient safety and health-care quality in hospitals across the country. A special department, the BJC Center for HealthCare Quality and Effectiveness, coordinates patient safety and health-care quality efforts throughout the organization, shares best practices and reports meaningful measures to both the government and to the public. BJC’s coordinated approach has been recognized nationally by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Each BJC hospital has adopted specific standards of clinical excellence and developed programs to consistently deliver exceptional care. Examples include processes to minimize the risk of hospital infections, ensure safer surgery and track medication accuracy. In addition, BJC has
adopted proven “evidence-based medicine” standards such as administering antibiotics to patients before surgery to minimize infections, providing medications to reduce the risk of cardiac damage during a heart attack and offering anti-inflammatory therapy to patients with asthma.
In 2004, Boone Hospital Center became the first recipient of the newly established BJC HealthCare CEO Excellence in Quality Award. This award was created to recognize BJC hospitals that exceed their annual targets in four key areas – clinical quality, patient satisfaction, operating earnings and unit costs. Through the dedicated efforts of employees, Boone Hospital Center met additional clinical quality standards, improved patient satisfaction scores, boosted revenues and reduced costs.
