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Northwest Community Healthcare Recognized For Surgical Excellence

November 7, 2017

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) has recognized Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH) for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2016.

NCH Medical Group Surgeon Sean Barnett, M.D., is the organization’s NSQIP champion. Alan Loren, M.D., Ph.D., NCH Chief Medical Officer, credits his leadership and ability to bring different parts of the organization together as key to earning this distinction.

“This recognition reflects the excellence of NCH surgeons, surgical and support teams and our entire hospital,” Dr. Loren says. “NCH achieves excellent surgical results because we focus on providing outstanding care to every patient. This national acknowledgement benefits our patients, their loved ones and the communities we serve.”

The ACS NSQIP surgical quality program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a meritorious composite score determined through a weighted formula combining eight outcomes. Clinical outcome performances related to patient management are:

  • Mortality
  • Cardiac: cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction
  • Pneumonia
  • Unplanned intubation
  • Ventilator use greater than 48 hours
  • Renal failure
  • Surgical site infections (SSI)
  • Urinary tract infection (UTI)

This program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as adjusts risk characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. The goals of ACS NSQIP are to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure), and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery.

Risk-adjusted data from the 2016 calendar year is used to determine which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes. Meritorious hospitals represent approximately 10 percent of the hospitals evaluated.

About Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH)

Serving Chicago’s northwest suburbs since 1959, Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH) is an independent healthcare system dedicated to serving the community. Its comprehensive, patient-centered system of care has locations throughout Chicago’s northwest suburbs.

It serves more than 350,000 outpatients and more than 20,000 inpatients treated annually at its 489-bed acute care hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It is home to a Level III NICU, Level II Trauma Center and a dedicated pediatric emergency department. The award-winning hospital holds the prestigious Magnet designation for nursing excellence, is designated as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, and earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval in 2015.

NCH has a medical staff of more than 1,200 physicians. All 20 locations of NCH Medical Group are staffed with board-certified primary and specialty care physicians. In addition, four NCH Immediate Care Centers and NCH Virtual Health provide access to care when and how people need it.

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery.

Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 80,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.