VALLEY BAPTIST BROWNSVILLE TEAMS WIN FOUR NATIONAL 5-STAR AWARDS FOR EMERGENCY, INPATIENT, MEDICAL/SURGICAL & PEDIATRIC CARE

BROWNSVILLE, June 14, 2010 - The efforts of physicians, nurses and other health professionals at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville have resulted in four national “5-Star” awards for the Brownsville hospital, for scoring in the top 10% in the nation for emergency care, inpatient medical / surgical and pediatric care.

The awards for overall quality of care are from Professional Research Consultants (PRC), a national healthcare research firm based in Omaha, Nebraska. The awards are figured on the percentage of patients who rated the facilities as “excellent” for overall quality of care delivered by the hospital staff in 2009.

This marks the fifth year in a row that the VBMC-Brownsville Emergency team has received a national PRC award – and the third year in a row for the inpatient nursing units. The inpatient units at Valley Baptist-Brownsville include the 3 Tower nursing unit, which is also receiving a separate 5-Star Award for Medical / Surgical care; the Pediatrics unit, which is receiving a 5-Star Award for care of children in the Lower Valley area; the 2 Tower nursing unit; the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), and the Labor and Delivery, Post Partum, Newborn Nursery, Neonatal ICU, and Telemetry units.

“It is the hard work and dedication of all VBMC-Brownsville physicians and employees that results in such high quality patient care and service,” said Leslie Bingham, CEO for Valley Baptist-Brownsville. “Our focus on excellence is making Valley Baptist-Brownsville a better place for our patients to be treated, a better place to practice medicine, and better place to work. Thank you to our physicians, staff and volunteers for their determination and commitment to our patients.”

The awards are based on research that is conducted to obtain the opinions of patients at VBMC-Brownsville and to assess their perceptions of the care they received. Valley Baptist uses the data not only to recognize a job well-done, but to continuously improve and enhance patient care and satisfaction.

The national research company, PRC, gathers its data by contacting patients at hundreds of hospitals across the country for confidential telephone interviews.

For more information on quality improvement efforts at Valley Baptist-Brownsville, visit www.valleybaptist.net.