CARIBOU, Maine —Avatar Solutions, a leading provider of surveys for patients, employees, physicians and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (CAHPS) surveys, recently announced its 2014 award-winning hospital partners, which once again included Cary Medical Center.
Highlighting its consistent dedication to providing a high-quality patient experience, Cary is being awarded the following honors: Best Overall Performer, for the fourth consecutive year, and Exceeding Patient Expectations for the ninth consecutive year.
“We truly enjoy recognizing our patient experience and workforce engagement award recipients each year,” said Lynn Ehrmantraut, senior vice president of performance improvement at Avatar Solutions. “The awards highlight the organizations’ commitment to fulfilling their respective missions, in providing a great place to receive care, a great place to work, and a great place to practice medicine. Each of the award-winning organizations deserves this special recognition for all of their accomplishments and innovations over the past year.”
The 2014 Best Overall Performer marks four consecutive years that Cary has received this award. Only three other hospitals in the Avatar system of several hundred hospitals across the nation have achieved this level of recognition in the 14-year history of the company. The hospital also joins unique company by receiving the Exceeding Patient Expectations Award for the ninth year in a row. Only seven other hospitals participating in the Avatar survey program have accomplished this.
Kris Doody, RN, chief executive officer at Cary, said the consistency of these awards demonstrates the high level of quality and patient-centered care at the hospital.
“Winning these awards again is clear evidence that our staff, our entire team, bring a passion and a calling to the work they are doing,” said Doody. “To have this level of consistent performance over the years is a demonstration that our people are giving their very best, every day for our patients and their families. It just has become a way of life here. We could not be prouder of our staff and we salute them for this outstanding achievement.”
The Overall Best Performer is awarded to the facilities in Avatar’s national database with the highest overall combined score for inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and ambulatory surgery. This award recognizes high-performing facilities that demonstrate consistency of experiences by patient type throughout the organization. Exceeding Patient Expectations is awarded to facilities whose overall score exceeds expectations for whichever patient types they are currently surveying.
Shawn Anderson, who manages the hospital’s Avatar Survey program, pointed out that to achieve such a consistent and high level of recognition requires that all staff must always be at their best.
“We like to use the word ‘Always’ here at Cary,” said Anderson about the awards, “that every time we come in contact with a patient or family member we are always at our very best, that we always go above and beyond expectations. Clearly the patient surveys are letting us know that we are doing just that. This consistent level of award recognition not only by Avatar Solutions but by a number of independent organizations who measure hospital performance is a great tribute to the remarkable dedication and hard work by all of our staff.”
The hospital never knows which patients are going to be surveyed. The surveys are randomly sent by Avatar to patients who have recently experienced care at the medical center. The surveys are returned to Avatar by the patients and the company analyzes the results and sends the analysis back to the hospital. The hospital is scored every month on the survey results.
This recent high level of recognition comes after Cary Medical Center received high marks from the Maine Health Management Coalition, earned an ‘A’ in patient safety from the Leapfrog Group and was recently recognized by Women Certified with a 2015 Women’s Choice Award as an America’s Best Hospital for Obstetrics.
