5 January 2005: The Rural Health Quality Network Welcomes Dayton As The Newest Member

The Board of Directors for the Rural Health Quality Network voted on January 5, 2005 to allow Dayton General Hospital to join Washington State Rural Health Quality Network.  Dayton General is the Quality Network’s 34^th member from the State of Washington. 

Created in 2002, the Rural Healthcare Quality Network consists of active rural health providers who are engaged in meaningful improvement in the quality of care delivered to patients in rural Washington. The network was formed through a series of steps and funding sources, including funds for Critical Access Hospital quality improvement through the State Department of Health and a congressional appropriation.

The Network consists of 34 small rural hospitals throughout of the state of Washington, all of whom are Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) or in the process of pursing CAH status. These providers include: Lincoln, Odessa Memorial, Othello Community, Mount Carmel, Deer Park, St. Joseph’s, Newport Community, Ferry County Memorial, North Valley, Mid-Valley, Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, Garfield, Columbia Basin, Quincy, Cascade Valley, Jefferson General, Forks Community, Morton, Mark Reed, Willapa Harbor, Ocean Beach, Coulee Community, Pullman Memorial, Enumclaw, Tri-State Memorial, Okanagon Douglas District, Sunnyside Community, Lake Chelan Community,  Klickitat Valley Health Services and now Dayton General.

Working through a network makes sense in a rural setting because, in general, rural providers lack the infrastructure to develop quality improvement departments equivalent to their urban counterparts. Networks allow rural providers to pool their resources and work on projects together. Moreover, there is a power in numbers; no single CAH could have as strong of a voice as an entire network.

Specific goals of the network include:

• Establishing common standards for quality measurements
• Partnering with others to support our Mission and Vision
• Implementing improvements based on the conclusions drawn from our quality work
• To provide the infrastructure to define and support quality in rural Washington in order to create a learning organization educate the stakeholders
• Improve viability through reducing administrative burden, networking, shared services, eliminating redundancies and inconsistent processes and systems.

“Becoming a part of the Quality Network was one of the top priorities for the Health System for 2005”, CEO Bruce Grimshaw said.  “This is a huge step for our organization as it will allow us to learn from the great things being done at other hospitals throughout the state, and having other healthcare professionals come here to assist us in ensuring that the medicine we practice is of the highest quality”.  “Joining the Quality Network brings us in line with our Health System’s Commitment of Improvement to our community”.