Day Kimball Hospital, part of the Day Kimball Healthcare system, today announced that it has received two national distinctions for its hip and knee replacement program. The Joint Commission, a national accreditation organization, has for the third time awarded the hospital its Gold Seal of Approval® for Joint Replacement Certification. And Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has named the hospital a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement® for demonstrating outstanding quality of care and patient results in knee and hip replacement surgeries.

Day Kimball Hospital performs nearly 180 knee and hip replacement surgeries each year. During the course of a patient’s hospital stay and rehabilitation, more than two dozen healthcare providers offer direct care to each patient.

“We’re thrilled to have the excellence of our orthopedic care at Day Kimball Hospital recognized with these national distinctions,” said Robert Smanik, Day Kimball Healthcare president and CEO. “The effort put in by our surgeons, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and many other healthcare professionals across our system to work collaboratively to ensure high standards of care for our patients throughout the entire experience is truly impressive and something we’re very proud of.”

The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® is a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to providing safe and effective patient care. Day Kimball Hospital underwent a rigorous on-site review in early April, during which Joint Commission experts evaluated compliance with national disease-specific care standards as well as with joint replacement-specific requirements. Clinical practice guidelines and performance measures also were assessed. 

Established in 2002 and awarded for a two-year period, The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification evaluates clinical programs across the continuum of care and addresses three core areas: compliance with consensus-based national standards, effective use of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care, and an organized approach to performance measurement and improvement activities. Day Kimball Hospital first earned the Gold Seal of Approval® for Joint Replacement Certification in 2012.

The Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement® is a national designation awarded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality healthcare in the areas of bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacement, spine surgery or transplants.

To earn the Blue Distinction Center designation for knee and hip replacement, Day Kimball Hospital was evaluated based on an objective, evidence-based selection criteria established with input from expert physicians and medical organizations. The goal of Blue Distinction is to recognize medical facilities that provide exceptional quality healthcare services while meeting the best industry standards for quality and performance for a specific area of specialty care.

Blue Distinction selection criteria cover a broad range of quality measures and are publicly available on www.bcbs.com/bluedistinction. By earning the designation, Day Kimball Hospital has demonstrated:

• An established program, performing required annual volumes for certain procedures 
• Appropriate experience of its care team
• Full facility accreditation by a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-deemed national accreditation organization (The Joint Commission for Day Kimball Hospital)
• Adherence to evidence-based clinical care measures and guidelines 
• A comprehensive quality management program

“These achievements really speak to the collaborative effort undertaken by staff from all over the hospital to ensure the best possible care for our patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery,” said Kevin J. Reagan, MD, orthopedic surgeon and physician liaison to the Joint Academy Committee, a group of Northeast Connecticut healthcare providers who meet regularly to improve processes for knee and hip replacement patients. 

“From pre-surgery education to the actual procedure to the post-operative care and rehabilitation, everyone involved in our hip and knee replacement program at Day Kimball Hospital consistently goes above and beyond and it shows in the quality of care our patients receive and the results they enjoy,” Reagan said.

To learn more about hip and knee replacement surgery at Day Kimball Hospital, visit https://www.daykimball.org/patient-services/medical-services/?view=Hip+%26+Knee+Replacement+Surgery