VHA Leadership Awards Given to Baylor Health Care System Hospitals

Contact: Susan Hall, 214-820-1817
Email: susanh@baylorhealth.edu

(DALLAS - April 9, 2007) - Nine hospitals within Baylor Health Care System received the 2007 VHA Leadership Awards for Clinical Excellence. The award honors health care organizations that have differentiated themselves around national performance standards by achieving performance at the 90 percent or above level on clinical core measures.

"I offer my sincere congratulations to the physicians, clinical staff and hospital administrative teams who have diligently pursued these standards," says Joel Allison, president and chief executive officer, Baylor Health Care System. "This recognition is another acknowledgement of Baylor's commitment to safe, quality, compassionate patient care. Patients benefit when hospitals achieve national standards based around core measures shown to improve patient care."

The following Baylor hospitals received the 2007 VHA Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence:

• Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) treatment and surgical infection prevention
• Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth for surgical infection prevention
• Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital for acute myocardial infarction treatment, heart failure and surgical infection prevention
• Baylor Medical Center at Garland for acute myocardial infarction treatment and surgical infection prevention
• Baylor Medical Center at Irving for heart failure
• Baylor Medical Center at Southwest Fort Worth for surgical infection prevention
• Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie for acute myocardial infarction treatment, heart failure and surgical infection prevention
• Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine for acute myocardial infarction treatment and heart failure
• Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano for acute myocardial infarction treatment and heart failure

In announcing the VHA awards, Curt Nonomaque, president and chief executive officer of VHA Inc., congratulated Baylor: "Baylor Health Care System should be proud that they are the most consistently represented hospitals each time VHA puts together our recognition program."

The hospitals will be honored at a special awards banquet on Sunday, May 20, during the 2007 VHA Leadership Conference in Denver.

About Baylor Health Care System - based in Dallas, Texas, is a network of hospitals, primary care and specialty care centers, rehabilitation clinics, affiliated ambulatory surgery centers and the Baylor Research Institute. One of the largest private-sector employers in Dallas/Fort Worth, Baylor employs more than 16,000 people and has more than 2,700 physicians on its medical staffs. Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, flagship hospital of the system, is a major patient care, teaching and research center for the Southwest. For fiscal year 2006, Baylor Health Care System reported $405.6 million in community benefit to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

About VHA - VHA Inc., based in Irving, Texas, is a national health care alliance that provides industry-leading supply chain management services and supports the formation of regional and national networks to help members improve their clinical and economic performance. With 17 offices across the U.S., VHA has a track record of proven results in serving more than 2,400 health care organizations nationwide.