The award was given on June 11, 2014, from Texas Medical Foundation (TMF) Health Quality Institute in Austin Texas.  Only 33 Texas hospitals out of 313 Acute Care Hospitals and 80 Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) statewide qualified for the Gold Award for having successfully undertaken quality initiatives to improve patient care outcomes and improve performance on specific national quality measures by the Texas Hospital Association and Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals.

Gold Award winners had to meet required achievement thresholds, submit reports, and demonstrate 20 percent relative improvement in reduction of readmissions during the evaluation period or an absolute readmissions rate of 9 percent or lower.

William Kiefer, the hospital’s Chief Clinical Officer, stated some of the efforts made at RRRH to win this award consisted of:
• Implementing clinically proven best practices to ensure improved patient outcomes;
• Daily clinical staff huddle to review ongoing patient charts to assure best practices are in place;
• Purchasing and Implementing use of new equipment to prevent patient falls, thus reducing hospital falls by 80% over the last two years;
• Clinical staff hourly rounds of patients to verify the patients are safe, pain-free, and that their needs are being met.

William also stated, “Proven standards of care can save lives, and we will continue to enhance our quality improvement efforts through our collaboration with partners and with TMF Health Quality Institute to ensure that every patient gets the right care at the right time, every time.”

Tom Manley, CEO of TMF Health Quality Institute, said, “TMF is proud to recognize these hospitals for promoting quality improvement activities and their senior management for promoting a quality culture.  Quality improvement is a complex and demanding process, and we thank the senior management of Red River Regional Hospital for their commitment to improving the health of Texans and the efficiency of health care in our state.”