SEATTLE – (April 27, 2016) — Virginia Mason will receive the 2016 Washington Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality for its work in improving care for patients hospitalized for heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction.

The award is to be presented by Qualis Health, a leading population health organization, during a ceremony May 4 at the Northwest Patient Safety Conference in Lynnwood.

The award-winning project — led by cardiologist Drew Baldwin, MD, quality director for the Virginia Mason Heart Institute — created a clinical decision support tool. It provides a checklist of questions about evidence-based treatment guidelines the hospital physician answers when preparing patients for discharge. The tool helps to ensure that patients who have had a heart attack receive all the recommended therapies according to scientific evidence and clinical guidelines.

“We always strive to provide the highest quality, safest and most appropriate care,” said Dr. Baldwin. “This award is a testament to that commitment and to our team’s focus on continuous improvements that can benefit our patients and their families.”

Virginia Mason is one of five organizations scheduled to receive quality awards at the upcoming Northwest Patient Safety Conference.

“Our changing health care landscape requires increasingly vigorous efforts to improve health care delivery and health outcomes in Washington and across the nation,” said Jonathan Sugarman, MD, MPH, president and CEO of Qualis Health.

“The Qualis Health Awards of Excellence in Healthcare Quality celebrate organizations that have transformed health care delivery for their communities — making a real difference for their patients and their families,” he added. “Their achievements exemplify progress towards critical aims for health care: better quality of care at a lower cost.”

Virginia Mason also received the quality award from Qualis in 2015, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Qualis Health presents the annual Award of Excellence in Healthcare Quality to organizations in Washington and Idaho to recognize those that demonstrate outcomes pertinent to three aims outlined in the National Quality Strategy: Better health care for individuals; better health for populations; and reduced costs through improvement.

About Virginia Mason Health System
Virginia Mason, founded in 1920, is a nonprofit regional health care system based in Seattle that serves the Pacific Northwest. In the Puget Sound region, the system includes 336-bed Virginia Mason Hospital; a primary and specialty care group practice of more than 500 physicians; regional medical centers in Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Federal Way, Kirkland, Issaquah and Lynnwood; Bailey-Boushay House, the first skilled-nursing and outpatient chronic care management program in the U.S. designed and built specifically to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS; Benaroya Research Institute, which is internationally recognized for autoimmune disease research; and Virginia Mason Institute, which trains health care professionals and others from around the world in the Virginia Mason Production System, an innovative management methodology for continually improving quality, safety and efficiency. Virginia Mason online: VirginiaMason.org

Virginia Mason also includes Yakima-based Memorial Family of Services and Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, a 226-bed facility serving the Yakima Valley in Central Washington since 1950. Memorial Family of Services comprises primary care practices and specialty care services, including high quality cardiac care, a continuum of cancer care, hospice care, and advanced services for children with special health care needs. Memorial online: YakimaMemorial.org

Media Contact:
Gale Robinette
Media Relations Manager
Virginia Mason Health System
(206) 341-1509
gale.robinette@VirginiaMason.org