Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center Earns ScionHealth’s ‘Platinum Award’ ‒ Company’s Top Honor for Hospital Quality

Pictured at the presentation were (left to right): Brian Walton, President of ScionHealth Community Hospitals; Rodney Van Donkelaar, CFO, CPRMC; Christy Moody, CNO, CPRMC; Bill Little, CEO, CPRMC; Dr. Brian Sponseller, CMO, CPRMC; April Winburn, Director of Quality & Regulatory Compliance, CPRMC; and Dr. Dean French, CMO, ScionHealth.

HARTSVILLE, South Carolina (July 31, 2024) – Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center (CPRMC) was honored today as one of three ScionHealth-owned hospitals to win the company’s inaugural National Quality Strategy Platinum Award ‒ its highest honor for clinical quality. ScionHealth leaders presented the award at a ceremony at Carolina Pines, one of 92 hospitals owned by ScionHealth on campuses in 28 states. ScionHealth was created in December 2021 and launched its National Quality Strategy last year.

“This is quite an honor for our hospital and our team because every ScionHealth hospital works tirelessly to provide the best patient outcomes and experiences in the safest environment possible,” said Bill Little, CEO of Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center. “To be a top performer among 90-plus hospitals acknowledges the best practices we have in place and affirms the hard work of our team members, volunteers, and partners. We are thrilled to win the Platinum Award in the inaugural year of the program and vow to continue our efforts to be a leading provider of high-quality, safe care.”

The ScionHealth National Quality Strategy promotes best practices and measures the success of its hospitals’ quality performance over a 12-month period. The rigorous program enables and empowers hospitals to continuously improve patient care, safety, and satisfaction with an underlying goal of zero patient harm. Platinum Award recipients Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center, Palestine Regional Medical Center (Palestine, Texas), and Kindred Hospital Clear Lake (Webster, Texas) outperformed all other ScionHealth hospitals while achieving exceptional quality performance.

“Carolina Pines continues to set an example as a high-performing hospital, as illustrated by this top honor from the ScionHealth National Quality Strategy and its many recent recognitions from national organizations that assess healthcare providers,” said Brian Walton, President of ScionHealth’s Community Hospital Division. “The hospital has a strong track record of providing exceptional care and patient experiences while expertly tailoring its offerings to meet the needs of the communities it serves.”

The ScionHealth National Quality Strategy Platinum Award adds to Carolina Pines’ recent bounty of national accolades. In May, the hospital was awarded an “A” grade for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit group that sets standards for excellence in patient safety and care. It was CPRMC’s fifth consecutive A grade, earning the hospital Leapfrog’s elite “Straight A” designation.

In December, Carolina Pines was named a “Top General Hospital” by The Leapfrog Group, one of the most competitive awards American hospitals can receive ‒ only 35 of approximately 4,000 eligible hospitals across the country attained the honor. CPRMC was one of 153 hospitals nationwide to be included in Becker’s 2023 listing of “Great Community Hospitals,” and the Carolina Pines’ employed Medical Practice attained recognition in 2024 and 2023 as a Patient-Centered Medical Home from the National Center for Quality Assurance. 

The ScionHealth National Quality Strategy measures hospital quality over the six domains of healthcare quality established by the Institute of Medicine. Each domain features a mix of clinical metrics and best practices that include clinical protocols, training, and leadership. The more a hospital succeeds in each category, the more likely it will achieve better results in terms of patient safety, outcomes, and experiences. Here is a brief overview of each domain, including key metrics that are scored:

• Effective – The hospital provides evidence-based care to all who could benefit, and refrains from providing services to those not likely to benefit, avoiding both underuse and misuse. Key ScionHealth metrics: success in combating sepsis, sepsis prevention training, appropriate blood utilization, and safety around drug diversion and opioid stewardship.
  
• Efficient – Through strong teamwork and open communication, the hospital reduces waste and allows time and resources to be optimized toward effective patient care. Key ScionHealth metrics: length-of-stay improvement, readmission rates, and antibiotic stewardship efforts.
  
• Equitable – The hospital’s patients should have the opportunity to achieve their highest health potential, regardless of socially determined circumstances. Key ScionHealth metrics: initiatives and progress in addressing healthcare disparities.
  
• Patient-Centered – The hospital’s patients are its top priority. The hospital cares for their physical comfort and emotional well-being and respects patient and family preferences and values. By involving patients and families in care-plan development, the hospital improves healing and recovery. Key ScionHealth metrics: HCAHPS patient survey results (administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), effective implementation of foundational behaviors, bedside shift reports, rounding best practices, and more.
  
• Safe – By approaching patient safety initiatives holistically and systemically, the hospital strives to make safe care ordinary and routine. Key ScionHealth metrics: assessment of areas of harm reduction such as preventing/reducing falls, central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and C. difficile (a colon infection); improvement in safety event reporting, and related safety training.
  
• Timely – Timeliness of care is a crucial aspect of improving patient outcomes. By accurately assessing and appropriately addressing the urgency of care, the hospital strives to reduce harmful delays and minimize waste. Key ScionHealth metrics: improvement in Emergency Department throughput and primary care access, among other things.
  

“The ScionHealth National Quality Strategy is comprehensive, measurable, and challenging, as our first full-year results would indicate,” said Dr. Dean French, Chief Medical Officer at ScionHealth. “More importantly, this program is already making a meaningful difference for patients at our hospitals. We believe this blueprint for hospital quality will continue to drive improvements and best practices that elevate our care and make ScionHealth hospitals high-reliability providers and the preferred providers in the communities they serve.”