Kalkaska Medical Center gets high marks from patients

In business, it's the word of the customer that counts, and that's true even in the health care industry. It's a good thing for Kalkaska Memorial Health Center, because its customers--the patients--are saying great things.

Results from a recent survey are in, and emergency room patients that went to Kalkaska Memorial are giving the center good grades on the care they received.

The survey ran from October to December 2010, and took responses from 75 Kalkaska patients. They were among more than 372,000 patients surveyed nationwide from 1,722 hospitals. Among those hospitals, Kalkaska Memorial was ranked in the top 1 percent based on patient evaluations, regardless of size.

"These patient survey results show that the community believes in the quality of care it is receiving at our hospital," says Jim Austin, administrator at Kalkaska Memorial. "We're encouraged and thankful for its support and it validates the hard work of all of our employees and providers."

Kalkaska Memorial's emergency room is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and includes 28 employees. The emergency staff sees about 12,000 patients annually, of which 97 percent are treated and released, and only 3 percent are referred to other hospitals for further diagnosis or treatment.

Austin says the survey results were a great motivator for the hospital staff, who have worked hard to care for each patient at a high level of care.

"We will continue our efforts to maintain that level of confidence from our patients," Austin says. "We want everyone who walks through our doors to understand that their good health is our number one concern."

The survey was done by Press Ganey, a health care tracking company.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Jim Austin, Kalkaska Memorial Health Center