evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions. Additionally, St. Joseph’s received the association’s Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite Plus award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. St. Joseph’s Receives Platinum Performance Award from American College of Cardiology’s Action Registry St. Joseph’s Medical Center has received the American College of Cardiology’s ACTION Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2018. St. Joseph’s is one of only 203 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor. The award recognizes St. Joseph’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that St. Joseph’s has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
reaccreditation in the category of Medicaid HMO. NCQA is one of the most comprehensive evaluations in the health insurance industry. HPSJ Chief Medical Officer Lakshmi Dhanvanthari, MD, said: “Health Plans accredited by NCQA demonstrate their ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality care. NCQA is very member focused and this reaccreditation reaffirms the company wide dedication to serve our members and the community.” For members of Health Plan of San Joaquin, who mostly are working families and children, as well as seniors and persons with disabilities, this means – • NCQA has reaffirmed that HPSJ aligns with its Quality standards to increasingly deliver better service, having greater and greater positive impacts on members’ health. • H PSJ’s diverse membership can rely on their memberfriendly, very easy to read communications and the strong member advocacy from their case management team. • NCQA recognized that HPSJ deploys tech-supported processes to improve the member experience – and that HPSJ will continue to explore and add such technologies, as they benefit members and support the HPSJ provider network. • Members are choosing quality by choosing HPSJ, their local, home-grown health plan.
To receive the ACTION Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award, St. Joseph’s has demonstrated sustained achievement in the ACTION Registry for eight consecutive quarters and has performed at the top level of standards for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in adherence to guideline recommendations and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients. NCQA Reaccreditation for Health Plan of San Joaquin The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has awarded Health Plan of San Joaquin its three-year
FALL 2018
Health Plan of San Joaquin announces its 2018 Health Careers Scholarships (HCS) and Mentors - will increase scholarship support level for next HCS HPSJ continues to encourage future Central Valley doctors, nurses and pharmacists and support up to seven local schools and programs, including San Joaquin Medical Society’s DECISION MEDICINE. To date, over 170 scholarships have been awarded to deserving students in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties! Each HCS scholar receives $2,500, is
SAN JOAQUIN PHYSICIAN
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