Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Awarded Press Ganey Compass Award

CONTACT: Regina Camp 706-301-5300 or Cappie Ortman 404-367-2760

Hospital Recognized Nationally for Improvement in Outpatient Satisfaction Scores

Jasper, GA (Dec. 4, 2007) – Piedmont Mountainside Hospital was recently awarded a 2007 Press Ganey Compass Award for improvement in outpatient satisfaction scores. The Press Ganey Compass Awards recognize health care facilities whose satisfaction scores have shown the greatest improvement. In 2005, Piedmont Mountainside Hospital committed to bringing its patient satisfaction in all categories to the top quartile of the Press Ganey national database in three years. After two years, Piedmont Mountainside Hospital has dramatically improved patient satisfaction scores and is close to being in the top quartile nationally for all areas.

"After working so hard to improve these scores over the past two years, we could not be more thrilled with this recognition," said Ed Lovern, president and CEO of Piedmont Mountainside Hospital. 'This award shows that the initiatives we have implemented to increase patient satisfaction and our ongoing commitment to the community are working."

Early initiatives to improve outpatient satisfaction included improving access to services by adding online pre-registration, providing more customer service staff, building a user-friendly check-in desk to speed up registration, and increasing collaboration between departments to improve patient flow and shorten wait time. Piedmont Mountainside Hospital also worked to enhance patient waiting areas by offering free refreshments, providing beepers so patients could wander around, improving signage, adding a television, and having executives round regularly.

In July 2006, due to the intensified focus on the specific needs of patients, the mean overall score for outpatient services went above 90 for the first time ever. Throughout most of 2007, the scores have remained above 90. For the Press Ganey Compass Awards, satisfaction scores from several service categories are analyzed, and the winners must have improved their mean score ratings by 2 points or more over the past two years, and must have one of the three highest scores within their category.

“At Piedmont Mountainside, our goal is to deliver high quality, personalized care to our patients,” said Lovern. “This accolade acknowledges that patient satisfaction is a top priority for us.”

For more information about Piedmont Mountainside Hospital, please visit www.piedmontmountainsidehospital.org.

About Piedmont Mountainside Hospital
Named 2007 and 2006 Hospital of the Year by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals and one of the nation’s Most Improved hospitals in the 2006 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, Piedmont Mountainside Hospital is a 42-bed, acute-care hospital in Jasper, Georgia, offering 24-hour emergency services, intensive care unit services, womens services (including OB), and general medical/surgical services. Diagnostic services include CT, nuclear medicine, MRI (mobile), ultrasound and mammography. A complete range of outpatient services includes arthroscopic and laparoscopic surgery, physical therapy, respiratory therapy and pulmonary function, sleep studies and cardiac testing. PMH is a member of Piedmont Healthcare (PHC), a not-for-profit organization that also includes Piedmont Hospital, a 458-bed acute tertiary care facility offering all major medical, surgical and diagnostic services located on 26 acres in the north Atlanta community of Buckhead; Piedmont Fayette Hospital, a 143-bed, acute-care community hospital located on Highway 54 in Fayetteville; Piedmont Newnan Hospital, a 143-bed, acute-care community hospital in Newnan; the Piedmont Heart Institute, an integrated cardiovascular healthcare delivery system that includes the Fuqua Heart Center of Atlanta and Piedmont Cardiovascular Physicians; the Piedmont Hospital Foundation, the philanthropic entity for private fundraising initiatives; the Piedmont Physicians Group, with more than 75 primary care physicians in 23 offices throughout metro Atlanta; and the Piedmont Clinic, a 527-member physician network. For more information, visit www.piedmontmountainsidehospital.org.