October 3, 2022
St. Peter’s Health Earns Top Honor for Quality Healthcare in Montana
The Montana Hospital Association (MHA) is pleased to announce St. Peter’s Health as the recipient of the statewide association’s 2022 Leadership in Quality and Patient Safety Award.
The Leadership in Quality and Patient Safety Award recognizes a healthcare organization that has taken extraordinary and innovative steps to make patient safety a top priority throughout the organization. Entries demonstrate a commitment to creating sustainable safety improvements and establishing a foundation for quality and patient safety. Entries were judged on the following criteria:
- Evidence of spreading and sustaining the progress, practices, ideas and successes throughout the organization and/or region/state.
- Promotes a culture of patient safety.
- Provides data at all levels for continuous improvement.
- Demonstrated engagement of patients and families throughout organization.
In August 2021, St. Peter’s became the first health care system in Montana to receive ISO-9001:2015 Quality Management certification following an on-site survey in the spring from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) accrediting agency DNV Healthcare.
ISO is an independent, non-governmental organization that measures and awards companies and organizations based on their adoption and adherence to quality processes and standards. One of the highest quality standards in the world, ISO-9001 sets out criteria for a quality management system, focusing on methods that reduce failure and promote continual improvement like a strong customer focus, process approach and governance.
“St. Peter’s Health is a leader in going above and beyond to ensure patient safety is a top priority throughout the organization. We are pleased to honor them with our 2022 Leadership in Quality and Patient Safety Award,” said Rich Rasmussen, Montana Hospital Association CEO. “It takes both innovation and leadership to earn this distinction. The panel of judges was impressed with the culture of patient safety at St. Peter’s Health.”
According to St. Peter’s Chief Medical Officer and President of the Regional Medical Center Dr. Shelly Harkins, continual improvement, safety and accountability are the cornerstones for gold standard health care and critical to help mitigate rare yet inevitable human error.
“We take ‘keeping patients and colleagues safe in every sense of the word’ very seriously at St. Peter’s,” said Harkins. “And that means putting processes, procedures and systems in place that support and empower our people to provide the highest quality of care possible for our hometown community.”
According to St. Peter's Chief Executive Officer Wade Johnson, the organization's staff, providers and board members deserve all the credit for this recognition.
“Accomplishing and maintaining ISO certification and winning this award is a reflection of our continued commitment to providing safe and effective health care,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t be more proud of our high caliber teams who have truly built a world-class quality management system right here in Helena, Montana.”