Staff Report
Published Sept. 19, 2012

The Medical University of South Carolina earned recognition for its efforts and achievements in safety and care.

At a University HealthSystem Consortium event held last week in Orlando, Fla., MUSC was named one of four rising stars.

MUSC was named alongside Duke University Hospital, Shands Jacksonville Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic in receiving the award.

“UHC congratulates these hospitals for successfully focusing on health care quality and accountability improvement,” said Irene M. Thompson, president and CEO of UHC, in a news release. “This rising star achievement is especially notable because other academic medical centers are also working in earnest to improve patient safety and quality, and thus it has become quite difficult to stand out among more than 100 peer organizations.”

To be named a rising star, hospital members had to rise 20 positions over last year in the UHC Quality and Accountability Study. UHC said it uses objective data analysis of patient outcomes to determine rankings.

MUSC ranked No. 4 in safety and No. 8 in patient centeredness. Rankings looked at postsurgical complications and bloodstream infections to determine safety; and nurse communication, pain management, cleanliness and staff responsiveness to determine patient centeredness scores.

UHC is an alliance of the nations leading nonprofit academic medical centers. There are 116 academic medical centers and 276 affiliated hospital members.