Press Releases

Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital Wins Summit Award
Article Date: 02/22/2010

AKRON, Ohio, January 29, 2010 – Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital is proud to announce that Press Ganey Associates, Inc., has named it a Summit Award Winner for the 2nd consecutive year. It is one of just 23 emergency departments in the nation to receive this prestigious honor for 2009.

The Summit Award recognizes hospitals that achieve patient satisfaction ratings in the 95th percentile and above, and sustain such scores for three or more consecutive years, as compared to hospitals nationwide. Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital’s Emergency Department’s satisfaction ratings have ranged from the 96th to the 99th percentile for more than five years.

“Everything we do is patient-focused. We want to provide each patient with the very best care and the very best service.” said Jim Pope, president of Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital, “This award represents what our patients think about our care and service. Our patients have spoken and they’ve said we’ve accomplished our goal.”

Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital’s emergency department volume has continued to grow – more than 22% in the last four years. Even with the increased volume, the average “door to doctor” time is just over 20 minutes, far less than half of the national average of 56 minutes. The average length of stay is just 100 minutes.

According to Richard Kessler, M.D., the medical director of the Emergency Department, “It’s clear that delivering the type of care that patients want and need has resulted in our high patient satisfaction scores. It’s also clear that more and more patients are choosing Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital because they’re pleased with – or have heard about – our care and service.”

Press Ganey currently partners with more than 7,000 health care facilities—including over 40% of U.S. hospitals—to measure and improve the quality of their care. The company’s databases are the largest in the industry, and allow facilities nationwide to benchmark their results against peer organizations. The Press Ganey Summit Award is the health care satisfaction industry’s most coveted symbol of achievement bestowed annually.

About Summa Health System
Summa Health System is one of the largest integrated delivery systems in Ohio. Encompassing a network of hospitals, community health centers, a health plan, a physician-hospital organization, a multi-specialty physician organization, research and multiple foundations, Summa is nationally renowned for excellence in patient care and for exceptional approaches to healthcare delivery. Summa's clinical services are consistently recognized by U.S. News and World Report, Thomson Reuters and The Leapfrog Group. Summa also is a founding partner of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron. For more information, visit www.summahealth.org.

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