The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, is this year’s American Hospital Association (AHA)-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize winner for its “impressive culture of safety and focus on effectiveness.”

The award will be presented Sunday, April 20, 2014, at the Health Forum-AHA Leadership Summit in San Diego. According to the AHA, the urban academic medical center earned the distinction for its innovations in care delivery, such as an EHR-enabled early warning system that signals a lifesaving rapid response team and a daily infection audit for each patient. In addition, it has a robust program to reach out to underserved and non-English-speaking patient populations and strives to address health care disparities.

In 2008, VCU Medical Center launched its “Safety First, Every Day” initiative with the goal to become America’s safest health system with zero events of preventable harm to patients, team members and visitors. According to its 2013 annual report, since then, it has reached 87 percent compliance in hand hygiene and cut the rate of serious safety events in half.

“We are not content to be simply better than average in safety. We want to achieve the very highest standards every minute of every day," stated John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals, in the annual report.

Through its Coordinated Care program and Complex Care Clinic (established in 2011), VCU also says it has reduced inpatient admissions 44 percent and emergency department visits 38 percent decrease, creating total cost savings of $4 million and an average annual cost savings of $10,769 per patient.

The hard work is paying off. A few days ago, VCU Medical Center also was named the best hospital in the Richmond, Virgina, metro-area by U.S. News and World Report.

The Quest for Quality award comes with a $75,000 cash prize. Applicants are evaluated by a multi-disciplinary committee of health care quality and patient safety experts and judged on the sustainability and pervasiveness of its individual approach to achieving the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) six quality aims for safe, effective, efficient, timely, patient-centered and equitable health care.

The runner-up or finalist”prize — which comes with a $12,500 cash prize — went to Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast in Concord, North Carolina. It is part of Carolinas HealthCare System.

Three citation of merit awards also were handed out, including one to a VA facility. These were:

1. The MUSC Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina
2. The Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana
3. The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wisconsin

“These remarkable hospitals started an important journey with their staff, patients and communities to create a culture that prizes safe and effective care,” stated Rich Umbdenstock, the AHA’s president and CEO in a press relase. “By involving their whole organization, these hospitals have become national leaders in providing the highest quality of care.”

Read VCU Medical Center's press release.