True Blue care

UF Health Jacksonville earns distinction from Florida Blue

Florida Blue has named UF Health Jacksonville as a Blue Distinction center in the areas of knee and hip replacement. The Blue Distinction centers for specialty care program is a national designation awarded by blue cross and blue shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality specialty care — and has recently been expanded to include more robust quality measures focused on improved patient health and safety. Since 2006, consumers, medical providers and employers have relied on the Blue Distinction program to identify hospitals delivering quality care in bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacements, spine surgery and transplants. The selection criteria used to evaluate facilities were developed with input from the medical community and include general quality and safety metrics as well as program-specific metrics. UF Health Jacksonville is proud to have met the rigorous selection criteria that have been set by the Blue Distinction centers for specialty care program. Blue Distinction centers have met rigorous program standards and demonstrated better quality and improved outcomes for patients, with low rates of complications and readmissions. The program provides consumers with tools to make better-informed health care decisions, and these results will enable employers, working with their local Blue Plan, to tailor benefits to meet their individual quality objectives. — Dan Leveton