Durham Regional Hospital Earns Top Performer Status in Groundbreaking Medicare, Premier Inc. Pay-for-Performance Project.

Achieves Top Ranking for the Clinical Area of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG), Will Receive Bonus Payment From Medicare

DURHAM, N.C. -- Durham Regional Hospital (DRH) has been named one the top performers in a groundbreaking Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Premier Inc. pay-for-performance project that rewards hospitals for delivering higher quality care in five clinical areas.

Durham Regional was rated in the top decile, based on its second-year, overall quality score in the clinical focus area of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Based on this score, DRH will receive a bonus payment of $28,142 from CMS, which awarded incentive payments of $8.7 million to 115 top-performing hospitals.

DRH achieved an overall composite quality score (CQS), an aggregate of all evidence-based clinical quality measures within each clinical focus area, of 99.3 percent in the clinical focus area of CABG, leading to its top decile ranking. Examples of quality measures include smoking cessation, discharge instructions and pneumococcal vaccination.

"Providing outstanding patient care has always been our primary mission," said Charles Murphy, MD, Central Carolina Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery and a member of Durham Regional Hospital's Medical Staff. "We were pleased to participate in this demonstration and are proud that our performance was rated among the best. Over time, healthcare costs can be controlled by meeting quality standards that provide treatment before a condition worsens and that eliminate unnecessary procedures."

"As a healthcare provider, we are constantly working to improve the care we provide. Quality care requires team work. Our success with CABG is a perfect illustration of physicians and nurses working together to ensure quality medical care," said David P. McQuaid, RPh, MBA, FACHE, chief executive officer, Durham Regional Hospital.

Data from the second year of the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID), validated by CMS and reported publicly today, demonstrates a significant improvement in the quality of care across five clinical focus areas, including 1,284 heart attack patient lives saved.

For complete information about the HQID project, visit www.premierinc.com/qualitydemo.

"The main point is that the majority of hospitals in the HQID project, even those on the lower end of the scale, improved their quality of care across the board with respect to reliable use of scientifically based practices," said Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, president and CEO at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). "Hospitals want to offer high quality care; sometimes they just need to be pointed in the right direction. The HQID project has offered hospitals a guideline to improve their patient care."

"This study was conducted with a very strong clinical, quality and cost database from Premier. Such a database helps you to study your own care and identify opportunities for improvement," Berwick said.

HQID tracks process and outcome measures in five clinical areas - acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), pneumonia, and hip and knee replacement.

"For over a decade, Premier has been committed to working with hospitals to improve clinical quality and patient outcomes while safely reducing costs," said Richard Norling, president and chief executive officer of Premier Inc. "The findings from the first two years of the HQID project clearly show that the project is having a positive impact on the quality of care in our nation's hospitals and on the lives of patients and their families."

About Premier Inc., recipient of the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award 

Serving 1,700 hospitals and 42,000 other healthcare sites, Premier Inc. is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates the nation's largest healthcare purchasing network, the most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information and one of the largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups in healthcare. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

About Durham Regional Hospital

Durham Regional Hospital is a 369-bed acute care facility serving the healthcare needs of Durham, Orange and surrounding counties for the past 30 years. A part of the Duke University Health System, Durham Regional provides world-class and compassionate care in a community hospital setting. The hospital offers a comprehensive range of medical, surgical and diagnostic services including Weight Loss Surgery, Orthopaedics, Rehabilitation, Obstetrics, Gynecology, Cardiology, Radiology, Emergency Medicine and Outpatient Surgery. To learn more, visit www.durhamregional.org.