Transparency Rules at Mountain States Health Alliance

Can transparency improve a hospital's quality of care?

Johnson City, TN-based Mountain States Health Alliance has been awarded the 2012 National Quality Healthcare Award by the National Quality Forum. A critical component of that success is transparency contends a quality leader.

Tamera Parsons, MSHA's vice president of quality and patient safety, says the award is an acknowledgement of the years of hard work that the not-for-profit health system has invested to improve quality and enhance patient-centered care for the patients it serves at 13 hospitals in 29 counties in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.  

"When we first designed our patient-centered care culture we identified 10 guiding principles and we use those principals to guide behavior and form the foundation for all the processes we put in place," Parsons tells HealthLeaders Media. "Number 8 on the list, and not in order of importance, is 'Transparency is the rule in the care of the patient.'"