Choose Quality Quality care for CHRISTUS Good Shepherd patients

Health care experts and researchers are constantly evaluating medical evidence to make sure that guidelines and measures are kept up to date. Good Shepherd uses the process of care measures to provide heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care to evaluate the care we provide and maintain quality outcomes over time.

The key outcome measure of mortality is used to determine whether patients admitted to the hospital have risk-adjusted death (mortality) rates that are better, the same or worse than the U.S. national rate, given how sick they were when they were admitted to the hospital. In a collaborative effort, all departments, services and disciplines of our facility continually work toward achieving the best possible outcomes.

Developed by The Joint Commission and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Core Measures track a variety of evidence-based, scientifically-researched standards of care which have been shown to result in improved clinical outcomes for patients. Currently, there are Core Measures that spread over several medical specialty areas, including:

• Heart failure: Heart failure accounts for more than 700,000 hospitalizations every year with high rates of readmissions, mortality and morbidity.
• Acute myocardial infarction (AMI): 1.1 million people have heart attacks each year; almost 2/3 of those patients do not have a full recovery.
• Pneumonia measures: Pneumonia accounts for nearly 600,000 Medicare hospitalizations every year and is the fifth leading cause of death in patients aged 65 and older.
• Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP):22% of preventable deaths are attributed to postoperative complications and there are approximately 500,000 surgical site infections a year. Surgical patients are also 20 times more likely to have a venous thromboembolism (VTE) and/or pulmonary embolism, which cause 300,000 deaths per year.

Patient safety is a priority at Good Shepherd Medical Center. Our staff and physicians are committed to improving quality of life and providing safe and healthy surroundings for patients, visitors and staff. 

Everyone has a role in patient safety. Many procedures are in place to protect your well-being and to secure the best medical outcome possible. By partnering with your health care team, you can help us ensure a safer health care experience for you. Patients are encouraged to be actively involved in their own care for safety reasons.

If you have concerns about the care you or your family member received, we encourage you to speak with your physician, your nurse, the clinical director, house supervisor or guest relations (extension 2630).

You also have the right to file a complaint with the State as well as with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
Texas Department of Health
1100 W. 49th St.
Austin, TX 78756
888.973.0022

Joint Commission
800.994.6610
complaint@jcaho.org

You may request a Medicare beneficiary-initiated peer review of the facts in your case. You may make this request through the hospital or directly to the Peer Review Organization (PRO) by contacting the Texas Medical Foundation at 800.725.9225.