Houston Healthcare Wins Awards at Georgia Leadership Conference

Houston Healthcare Wins Awards at 2009 VHA Georgia Leadership Conference 

Houston Healthcare received three VHA Georgia Regional Leadership Awards and was honored as a 2009 VHA Georgia President Award recipient at the recent VHA Georgia Leadership Expo in Atlanta.

"We are proud of our employees and excited to be recognized for our efforts of improving the health care of our community," says Grady W. (Skip) Philips, III, President and Chief Executive Officer for Houston Healthcare.

In the category of Community Benefit Excellence, Houston Healthcare was awarded First Place for its Emergency Medical Services' ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Implementation initiative designed to improve emergency cardiac care in Houston County and surrounding communities. The system has dramatically improved emergency response time for suspected STEMI heart attack victims from the initial 911 call to the point of receiving lifesaving cardiac treatment to less than 90 minutes, as recommended by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

Houston Healthcare also received Second Place in the Community Benefit Excellence category for its nationally recognized Outpatient Diabetes Management Program, which works to educate participants about the disease and how to control it so they can continue to live an active and healthy life. The program has resulted in decreased emergency room visits and hospitalizations as well as an improvement in participants' overall blood sugar levels.

In the category of Supply Chain Excellence, Houston Healthcare was awarded Second Place for utilization of its SpaceTRAX inventory tracking program to effectively manage supplies and costs for the organization's Endovascular Services. "Part of delivering quality healthcare to our patients includes working through and streamlining our processes, which is what we did with the SpaceTRAX implementation," states Philips. "By reviewing our internal processes and making changes, this allows us to deliver better quality patient care."

VHA, Inc., is a leading purchasing cooperative for community-owned, nonprofit healthcare institutions. Created in the late 1970s, VHA links, serves and leads select community-owned health care organizations and physicians in building healthy communities and succeeding in their markets through the delivery of superior clinical and operational performance.