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St. Luke's Hospital Named a Top Performer in National Performance Improvement Initiative

This is the second year in a row that St. Luke's has received this award for high quality, safe and cost-effective care.

CHESTERFIELD, MO, January 23, 2012 - St. Luke's Hospital has been named a top performer for providing high quality, safe and cost-effective patient care in the third year of a voluntary three-year nationwide hospital performance improvement initiative. This is the second year in a row that St. Luke's has achieved top performance.

The Premier healthcare alliance QUEST®: High Performing Hospitals collaborative includes 278 hospitals across the United States. QUEST hospitals share ideas and best practices to create strategies to ensure every patient receives the right care at the right time and in the right manner.

One way St. Luke's patients have benefited is through the hospital's focus on achieving the 90-minute door-to-balloon goal recommended by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association for patients with a particularly serious type of heart attack caused by a blocked artery called STEMI, which stands for ST segment elevation myocardial infarction.

St. Luke's has achieved this goal with 100 percent of patients since December 2008 by ensuring patients with a STEMI receive a life-saving cardiac intervention such as balloon angioplasty or placement of a cardiac stent within 90 minutes. In fact, more than half of St. Luke's patients with a STEMI during the same time period received treatment within 60 minutes. Increasing blood flow quickly decreases heart muscle damage and saves lives.

St. Luke's achieved this goal by utilizing a multidisciplinary approach involving a team of physicians and other clinicians in emergency medicine and cardiac services. Through QUEST, St. Luke's has been able to share its best practices with other hospitals.

"As a result of the opportunity to collaborate with hundreds of hospitals across the country, we are able to help improve the quality of life for our patients and the broader community," said Jan Hess, St. Luke's Hospital vice president. "We are proud of this top performer recognition because it means we are delivering on our commitment to provide the highest quality care possible to our patients."

An advisory panel of experts from the nation's top health organizations, such as the National Quality Forum, The Joint Commission and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, guide QUEST members to achieve success.

About St. Luke's Hospital:
St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo. is a regional healthcare provider committed to improving the quality of life for patients and the community. The 493-bed, not-for-profit hospital offers care in more than 60 specialty areas and serves the region from more than 20 locations across the greater St. Louis area. St. Luke's is the only Missouri hospital recognized as one of America's 50 Best Hospitals ^TM by HealthGrades® (2007-2011). For more information, visit stlukes-stl.com/newsroom .

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient:
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 80,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. premierinc.com .

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