Experience the Difference

Here at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, we would like to invite you to experience the difference between a good hospital and a GREAT hospital. Through real patient stories, you can read about the compassionate care and feeling of family demonstrated at our medical center. It's the little things we do that make the biggest difference. At OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, our expert medical teams prepare every day for our patients using specialized technologies and treatments to care for you and your family.

Read Real Patient Stories >>>

Quality is measured in many different ways. While there is no universal agreement on which method should be used, the following criteria are often cited as quality indicators:

 

Magnet Certification

In December 2008, the American Nurses Credentialing Center designated OSF St. Joseph Medical Center a Magnet hospital, making it the only Magnet hospital in McLean County and only the 18th in Illinois.  The Magnet Recognition program acknowledges healthcare organizations that demonstrate excellence in nursing practice and adherence to national standards for the organization and delivery of nursing services.  For more information on OSF St. Joseph Medical Center's Magnet status, click here.

Medical Center Accreditation

The Joint Commission (JC) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits nearly 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. JC accreditation is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards. To earn and maintain accreditation, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a JC survey team at least every three years. Our JC information is available on the JC Accreditation page of this site and at http://www.qualitycheck.org/qualityreport.aspx?hcoid=7248

Joint Commission Stroke Accreditation
In 2007, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center earned the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission for Primary Stroke Centers.  This means OSF St. Joseph Medical Center is now a certified stroke center, a rare distinction for hospitals providing neuroscience care.

Physician Training

Board certification, or the international equivalent, means that doctors have completed the specialized training that a specialty board requires. To earn board certification, physicians must have practiced for a specified period of time and then pass a difficult written and oral examination. Board certification is generally accepted as a good indication of competence and experience. Ask your physician about his or her board certifications. Additionally, some physicians are board eligible, meaning they have completed necessary education and training and are waiting a required period of time before taking their board exam.

Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction often reflects how willing doctors and nurses are to listen, answer questions and explain treatments; how much time doctors spend with patients; and if the medical center is clean and the food is good. Patient satisfaction data can predict how satisfying your experience is likely to be. Patient satisfaction information can be found on our Patient Satisfaction page.

Core Measures

JC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) developed a set of research-based quality indicators that are used across the nation. They have established standardized measures of quality in selected patient populations including acute myocardial infarction (AMI), community acquired pneumonia (CAP), congestive heart failure (CHF), and SurgicalCare Improvement/Infection Prevention (SCIP). JC and CMS also provide information on patient's perspectives of their hospital stay through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.

Information on hospitals' performance on quality measures and patient perceptions can be found on our Quality Reports page, our JC Accreditation page, the JC website, or the CMS website.

The Leapfrog Group

The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable and has support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Leapfrog's mission is to trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality and affordability of health care by: supporting informed healthcare decisions by those who use and pay for health care; and, promoting high-value healthcare through incentives and rewards. More than 165 Fortune 500 corporations and other large private and public sector health benefits purchasers have joined The Leapfrog Group, representing more than 36 million enrollees. For more information, please visit the Leapfrog website.

Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care

The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care (IFQHC) is the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for the State of Illinois. QIOs work with physicians and health care professionals to promote high quality medical care for Medicare beneficiaries. IFQHC is contracted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to perform the designated quality improvement activities. For more information on IFQHC, please visit the IFQHC website.

Illinois Department of Public Health

The Illinois Department of Public Health is responsible for protecting the state's 12.4 million residents, as well as countless visitors, through the prevention and control of disease and injury. The Department's nearly 200 programs touch virtually every age, aspect and cycle of life. For more information, please visit the IDPH website.

Other Sources of Health Care Quality Information

Several industry and government organizations provide information about health care quality and some have proprietary reporting tools. The information these organizations provide can help you make informed, accurate decisions about healthcare quality.

Warning: Different agencies and consumer reporting sites use different definitions, data sets, and time periods and have different (or nonexistent) ways of normalizing data for comparisons (severity adjustments).

Therefore, comparisons between sources are not "apples to apples" and comparisons within a single source have to be carefully analyzed before accurate conclusions can be made.