Riverview Hospital is one of five hospitals nationwide honored by the VHA Inc., a national health care network, for meeting or exceeding national performance standards for clinical care.

The VHA award is the highest level of recognition bestowed by VHA and the winners had to meet defined standards for patient care over multiple quarters. The winners were selected from more than 1,400 hospitals and more than 28,000+ non-acute care providers nationwide that are served by VHA.

"This accomplishment was only made possible through the clinical excellence and compassion that our world class staff offers everyday,” said Pat Fox, President and CEO of Riverview. “Without these efforts, Riverview would not have been able to attain such a high honor."

The 2010 winners in recognition for their superior system performance, with composite scores in the top quartile across four clinical areas: AMI, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical infection prevention are:

• Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine, Grapevine, Texas
• Cheshire Medical Center, Keene, N.H.
• Peninsula Medical Center, Burlingame, Calif.
• Riverview Hospital, Noblesville, Ind.
• St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center, Boise, Idaho

"The VHA Leadership Awards recognize hospitals that demonstrated superior care," said Trent Haywood, M.D., J.D., chief medical officer at VHA. “As health care moves towards value-based purchasing, VHA members will be prepared to meet this challenge if they adopt and adapt the practices in place at these organizations."

VHA serves more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and more than 28,000 non-acute health care organizations nationwide. By recognizing these award winning institutions, VHA hopes that other hospitals and health systems will apply these leading practices to identify ways to patient care and drive clinical excellence within their own organizations.