After a successful run that spanned five decades, the final Impact was published in January 2020.  Impact was UTMB Health’s employee newsletter. It evolved from a one color printed tabloid newspaper to a full color magazine with a digital component. We’ve archived the past several years on these pages for your review and enjoyment.

graphic of 5-star academic health center

UTMB recognized with third straight five-star award

Oct 29, 2019, 19:34 PM by Stephen Hadley

image of ADC employees

FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR, UTMB has been recognized as a five-star academic medical center and named a winner of the prestigious 2019 Vizient Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award. 

One of 11 academic health science centers in the U.S. to be honored, UTMB received the national recognition for providing superior patient care in our hospitals, as measured by the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study. 

“‘Three-peats’ are always celebrated in the sports world, but ours means so much more because it speaks to how we care for others,” said Dr. Ben G. Raimer, UTMB president ad interim. “This is a remarkable accomplishment, signifying that our work to achieve outstanding quality and safety is ingrained in our culture. We have shown that Best Care isn’t just an initiative; it’s fundamentally the way we work." 

The continued success in providing quality care is the result of efforts initiated by UTMB in 2016 to deliver quality care at every level. 

UTMB is among a small number of academic medical centers nationwide recognized for demonstrating superior quality and safety performance as measured by the Vizient study, which has been conducted annually since 2005. 

“We want to dedicate this award to all of our employees who worked so hard for this achievement and to Donna Sollenberger and former UTMB President Dr. David Callender, who in 2016 set us on the path of achieving this recognition,” said Dr. Gulshan Sharma, chief medical and clinical innovation officer. 

Sollenberger recently retired as CEO of the UTMB Health System and Callender now leads the Memorial Hermann Health System. 

The 2019 Vizient Quality and Accountability Study rankings place UTMB among other top comprehensive academic medical centers in the nation. 

“Perhaps what we are most proud of is what this means for our patients, confirming they receive outstanding care when they choose UTMB,” said Sharma. 

Vizient’s composite scoring system uses patient-level performance data from a variety of sources, including the Vizient Core Measures Data Base, the Vizient Clinical Data Base, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, which measures patient satisfaction, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network, the nation’s most widely used health care-associated infection tracking system. 

“To be ranked among the best of our peer institutions, other academic medical centers, shows that patient care provided by UTMB is second to none,” Raimer said. “I am extremely proud of our entire health care team. Without their continued hard work and dedication, receiving this award three years in a row would not have been possible.” 

UTMB’s accomplishment was announced on Sept. 19 at the 2019 Vizent Connections Education Summit in Las Vegas. 

“This year’s award winners demonstrate how advanced analytics, when combined with leadership, collaboration and adaptability, can create a shared sense of purpose within an organization that enables it to improve patient care and outcomes across the care continuum,” said Byron Jobe, president and CEO for Vizient. “We are proud to recognize the achievements of each top performing organization.” n 

This year’s 2019 Comprehensive Academic Medical Center winners are: 

1.Rush University Medical Center 

2.NYU Langone Health 

3.Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota 

4.University of Utah Health 

5.Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania 

6.UC San Diego Health 

7.Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center 

8.Stanford Medicine 

9.The University of Texas Medical Branch 

10.Oregon Health and Science University 

11.Houston Methodist Hospital 

graphic illustrating vizient ratings from 2016-2019

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