VCU News Center – VCU Health System Wins Consumer Choice Award for Sixth Time

News releases and media advisories

For immediate release:
9/29/2008

Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
VCU Communications and Public Relations
(804) 828-6057
pdlepley@vcu.edu

VCU Health System Wins Consumer Choice Award for Sixth Time

The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System today received a Consumer Choice Award for providing quality healthcare services, based on an independent survey of central Virginia residents. This is the sixth time the health system has received the award.

The National Research Corporation announced the award after compiling the results of the company's annual Healthcare Market Guide Study, which measures consumer perceptions of overall quality and reputation.

Consumers across the country were asked to rate their local hospitals on a variety of factors including overall quality of patient care, quality of doctors and nurses and overall image and reputation. The VCU Health System and Henrico Doctors' Hospital are co-winners for the Richmond market.

"We are gratified to know that our patients and their families appreciate our dedication to the highest standards of patient care," said Sheldon Retchin, M.D., VCU Health System CEO and vice president for VCU Health Sciences. “This and our previous five Consumer Choice awards demonstrate that our commitment to quality healthcare is consistent and ongoing.”

Winners are determined by consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company’s Healthcare Market Guide ticker study. Of the 3,200 hospitals named by consumers in the study, the winning facilities rank highest in their Metropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The study surveyed more than 200,000 households representing about 400,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia.

"This recognition is further validation that our major investments and accomplishments in patient safety and quality are having a real impact across the region," said John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals.

The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.2 percent at a national level. Co-winners are named when scores fall within the statistical margin of error for a given market area.

The VCU Health System is the only hospital in Central Virginia included in U.S. News & World Reports’ top hospital listings. It also is among an elite group of about 200 healthcare organizations worldwide that have been awarded Magnet status for nursing excellence in national and international health care. The VCU Health System has four times been named one of the Working Mother 100 Best Companies and three times a Greater Richmond Employer of Choice. It also received the national Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

About the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center:

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers and stands alone as the most comprehensive academic medical center in Central Virginia. The medical center includes the 780-bed MCV Hospitals and outpatient clinics, MCV Physicians — a 600-physician-faculty group practice, and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University. The VCU Medical Center, through its VCU Health System, offers state-of-the-art care in more than 200 specialty areas, many of national and international note, including organ transplantation, head and spinal cord trauma, burn healing and cancer treatment. The VCU Medical Center is the site for the region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center. As a leader in healthcare research, the VCU Medical Center offers patients the opportunity to choose to participate in programs that advance evolving treatment, such as those sponsored by the National Cancer Institute through VCU’s Massey Cancer Center, Virginia’s first NCI-designated cancer center. The VCU Medical Center’s academic mission is supported by VCU’s health sciences schools of medicine, allied health, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing.