Allegheny Valley Hospital, VA Pittsburgh take top Fine awards

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Renee Rosensteel

Left to right are: Shelia Fine, JHF Board Chair Alan Guttman, Fine Foundation Chairman Milton Fine and JHF President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein

Kris B. Mamula

Reporter- Pittsburgh Business Times

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Allegheny Health Network's Allegheny Valley Hospital and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System each took home platinum $25,000 awards Wednesday, which were given by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation in recognition of successes in lowering an antibiotic-resistant infection rate and improving pain relief after joint replacement surgery respectively.

St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon received a $15,000 gold award for reducing by 87 percent and 53 percent the surgical site infection rates for total hip and knee replacement operations respectively. The award was the third that St. Clair received from the Fine Foundation.

The awards were presented by the JHF in partnership with the Fine Foundation as part of the Fine Award for Teamwork Excellence in Health Care program. The award ceremony was held at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland and infection control and pain management were the focus of this year's awards.

"Infection control prevents unnecessary pain, expense and death," Fine Foundation Chairman Milton Fine said in opening remarks. "Pain management relieves suffering and it give patients hope and a greater measure of control of their lives."

Winning the $10,000 silver award was UPMC's Children's Hospital, which collaborated with 16 neonatal intensive care units nationwide to develop protocols to reduce the number of central line infections. The protocols were also rolled out to the hospital's cardiac and pediatric intensive care units, where lower infection rates were also reported.

AHN's St. Vincent Health Center in Erie received the $5,000 bronze award for making opioid administration safer for patients with post-operative and other kinds of pain. The Fine awards were created in 2008 and more than $500,000 has been awarded in recognition of front line health care teams that have improved patient safety and overall care.

Kris Mamula covers health care, insurance and employee benefits for the Pittsburgh Business Times. Contact him at kmamula@bizjournals.com or 412-208-3825.