Medicine with the stars

Medicine with the stars

Shands Jax earns ‘Rising Star’ designation

Shands Jacksonville has been named a “Rising Star” by the University Healthsystem Consortium, a national alliance of academic medical centers and affiliated hospitals. The honor recognizes significant improvements and exemplary performance in patient safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness and equity of care as defined in UHC’s Quality and Accountability Study.

To receive a “Rising Star” designation, an organization has to move up 20 spots in UHC’s annual hospital rankings. UHC has awarded Shands Jacksonville 4 stars, rating the hospital 19th out of 116 academic medical centers, up from 44 the previous year.

“At UF&Shands Jacksonville, our patients are at the center of all we do, and the quality of their care is Job 1,” said David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., UF senior vice president for health affairs, president of the UF&Shands health system and chair of the Shands Jacksonville Board of Directors. “This award, which places Shands Jacksonville among the quality leaders of academic health centers nationally, is wonderful recognition of the partnership between our UF faculty and Shands. This has been a true team effort — faculty physicians, Shands nurses and all other clinical and administrative personnel — all working toward the single goal of achieving the best possible outcome for our patients.”

Jim Burkhart, M.H.A., president and CEO of Shands Jacksonville, said, “This is another example of how dedicated the employees of Shands Jacksonville and the University of Florida College of Medicine are to their patients and the communities in northeast Florida. We strive every day to provide the best patient care, and are honored and delighted to accept this recognition.”

Shands Jacksonville was one of four organizations nationwide to receive the designation. Duke University Hospital, the Medical University of South Carolina and the Cleveland Clinic also were named Rising Stars. All four centers were honored Thursday during a UHC conference in Orlando.

Shands Jacksonville and the UF College of Medicine jointly provide services at centers throughout the region, including an academic medical center, community clinics, the UF Proton Therapy Institute, and the region’s only Level I trauma center.

“Shands Jacksonville deserves to be singled out for the highest-quality care and superb services they provide to our entire community,” said Daniel R. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., vice president for health affairs and dean of the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville. “Our physicians and staff are proud to work hand in hand with the dedicated caregivers at Shands. They deserve this recognition as one of the best hospitals in America.”