Western Baptist Hospital is one of the top-performing hospitals in the country in the pneumonia care process-of-care, or "core" measures. The core measures, developed by the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) and publicly reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), relate to provision of recommended treatment in four clinical areas: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care. Western Baptist also performs well, above the 85th percentile, on the heart attack and heart failure core measures, though it does not perform as well-below the 50th percentile-on the surgical care core measures.
This study was based on publicly available information and self-reported data provided by the case study institution(s). The aim of Commonwealth Fund–sponsored case studies of this type is to identify institutions that have achieved results indicating high performance in a particular area of interest, have undertaken innovations designed to reach higher performance, or exemplify attributes that can foster high performance. The studies are intended to enable other institutions to draw lessons from the studied institutions' experience that will be helpful in their own efforts to become high performers. Even the best-performing organizations may fall short in some areas or make mistakes—emphasizing the need for systematic approaches to improve quality and prevent harm to patients and staff. The Commonwealth Fund is not an accreditor of health care organizations or systems, and the inclusion of an institution in the Fund's case study series is not an endorsement by the Fund for receipt of health care from the institution.