Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center has 99 percent patient satisfaction

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Two Humility of Mary Health Partners facilities recently received awards for patient satisfaction and experience.

The Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center in Youngstown was named a Guardian of Excellence Award winner for 2013 by Press Ganey Associates Inc. for achieving 99 percent patient satisfaction.

In Boardman, HMHP’s St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, which places St. Elizabeth Boardman among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation for patient experience.

The award recognizes St. Elizabeth Boardman for patient satisfaction based on a survey of 27 questions that range from cleanliness and noise levels in patient rooms to factors such as pain management and responsiveness to patients’ needs, and whether a patient would recommend the hospital to friends or family, according to Healthgrades.

Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center’s Guardian of Excellence Award recognizes top-performing health care providers that consistently achieved the 95th percentile or above for patient satisfaction based on data collected from May 2012 to April 2013.

To receive the award, the overall percentile rank cannot drop below 95 percent for any reporting period. Joanie Abdu maintained a 99 percent patient satisfaction rating for each reporting period throughout the year and since it began tracking the measure in April 2012.

“The consistent results of our patient-satisfaction survey validates the dedication, compassion and skill of our technical and office staff,” said Juli Dulay, manager of the breast-care center.

Press Ganey assesses patient satisfaction in several areas, including registration, wait times, helpfulness and skill of the staff, staff explanations for procedures and staff response to patients’ concerns, Dulay said.

“For 2013, 229 health care facilities nationwide received this award. Of this number, the only comprehensive breast care center was the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center,” said Dr. Rashid Abdu, who was the driving force behind development of the center established in memory of his wife, Joanie, who died of breast cancer in 1994.

Part of the Joanie Abdu Center’s mission is Joanie’s Promise, which provides free diagnostic breast services to women who are uninsured or underinsured and meet financial eligibility requirements.

This Press Ganey award is significant, Dr. Abdu notes, “because it acknowledges the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center’s full accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, and its designation as a Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology — not to mention being designated one of America’s Best Breast Centers by WomenCertified, home of the Women’s Choice award.

Genie Aubel, president of St. Elizabeth Boardman, said the Healthgrades award “reflects the sincere commitment of every physician, employee and staff member to do their very best in caring for our patients, mind, body and spirit. We work very hard to ensure each patient has a positive, healing experience.”

Healthgrades evaluated 3,582 hospitals that submitted patient surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, covering admissions from March 2012 through April 2013.

To be eligible for the patient experience award, hospitals had to meet additional clinical quality requirements. This ensures recipient hospitals are delivering strong outcomes in addition to an excellent patient experience during hospitalization. Only the top 15 percent of this national group (447 hospitals) received the 2014 award, according to Healthgrades.

The HMHP network of care includes St. Elizabeth, St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth Boardman health centers, HMHP Physician Associates, HM Home Health Services, The Assumption Village, Humility House, and Hospice of the Valley. HMHP is part of Catholic Health Partners, the largest health system in Ohio.