UW Hospital wins ‘Consumer Choice’ award

UW Hospital and Clinics has been named a 1999 Consumer Choice Award winner by the National Research Corporation, a nationally recognized health care performance measurement firm.

The designation, given to just 126 hospitals nationwide, is based on a national study of consumer assessments of their health plans, personal physicians, local hospitals and health systems as well as their own current health status. This year, more than 170,000 households representing approximately 400,000 covered lives responded to the mail survey, which concluded in June.

“Consumer choice award” winners are those organizations in each market achieving the highest composite score on four measures of consumer preference: best physicians, best nurses, best reputation and best overall quality. In some markets, co-winners were chosen where findings fell within the error range for that market.

UW Hospital was the only Madison hospital named and one of two in Wisconsin. The hospital was recognized in July by U.S. News and World Report magazine as among the top two percent of the nation’s hospitals in 10 medical specialties.

National Research Corp., based in Lincoln, Nebraska, was the first organization to introduce performance norms to the health care industry and has advised a number of national health care accrediting bodies regarding standardized performance measures.