Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Patients rank SFMC second highest in U.S.

Tenet program bestows five-star status

South Fulton Medical Center employees were jubilantly celebrating after Chief Executive Officer Andrew Agwunobi, M.D. announced late Monday afternoon that the hospital had reached five-star status for the month of January. With this score, SFMC ranked second out of 113 hospitals in the Tenet Healthcare System nationwide, and became one of only seven other hospitals within Tenet to achieve this status.

"We are very proud of the many wonderful changes that have occurred over the last two years at the new South Fulton Medical Center," said Agwunobi. "During this period we have renovated every floor of the hospital, purchased new equipment, built a high-quality nursing service, attracted numerous new physicians and implemented a hospital-wide focus on customer service."

This rating system is a part of Tenet Healthcare's "Target 100" program, a customer-service initiative that targets 100 percent patient satisfaction. Hospitals can only attain five-star status if over 90 percent of patients are completely satisfied with their care, a rating score of 9 ­ 10 on a scale of 0-10. At SFMC, 91 percent of the patients stated that they were completely satisfied with the customer service during their stay.

"Achieving 5-star status, with a score that places us 2nd out of all 113 Tenet hospitals nationwide, confirms that we are appropriately focused on meeting the needs of the community for whom this hospital was built to serve," said Agwunobi. "We are delighted that our customers ­ the patients and their physicians ­ are pleased with the quality of care and the customer service we offer at SFMC."

South Fulton Medical Center, a 392-bed acute care hospital was acquired by a subsidiary of the Tenet Healthcare Corporation in April of 2001, when it joined four other hospitals that comprise Tenet's greater Atlanta network. In addition to emergency care, the hospital offers cardiac care, physical and occupational rehabilitation, inpatient oncology, ambulatory surgery and labor and delivery. The hospital also has a level two neonatal intensive care unit. For more information on South Fulton Medical Center, go to www.southfultonmedicalcenter.com