The Nebraska Medical Center

While no one standard can demonstrate which hospital is the one for you, there are a number of factors to consider. The Nebraska Medical Center has made an outward and unrelenting commitment to deliver the highest quality care possible to every patient at every opportunity. That commitment is evident in the way that our patients describe the care they have received and is measured in many different ways.

The Nebraska Medical Center demonstrates superior outcomes in each of our Centers for Excellence, including the Cancer Care, Heart Care, Neurological Sciences, Transplant Care , and Women’s Services Centers. Each center is dedicated to delivering the quality of care that patients deserve and are an outward demonstration of our commitment to excellence.

Don’t just take our word for it: The Joint Commission (formerly known as JCAHO) is an independent, nonprofit organization that evaluates and accredits nearly 18,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. Accreditation by The Joint Commission is a recognized standard of quality awarded to organizations that demonstrate a commitment to maintaining quality performance standards. In order to maintain accreditation, providers must undergo on-site surveys at least every three years. For more information, please visit www.jointcommission.org.

When choosing the right physician to manage your care, credentials are important. To ensure patients receive the best care possible, all licensed healthcare providers at The Nebraska Medical Center are formally re-credentialed every two years. In this process, the hospital’s credentialing committee examines each provider’s performance in the areas of patient safety, survival, and technology usage to ensure their performance meets our high standards. In addition, board certification, a term that indicates a physician has completed the amount of training that a specialty board requires, is a good measure of competence and experience, and The Nebraska Medical Center places a high premium on the value of this certification.

The Nebraska Medical Center’s physicians are among the most experienced in their field. Our facility is a model for innovation and success in the treatment of many diseases. As the primary teaching center for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the hundreds of certified and well-trained physicians, surgeons, specialists, nurses, and staff of The Nebraska Medical Center are among the most respected and admired medical professionals in the nation. Their dedication to compassion is accompanied by a commitment to innovation and quality that is raising the bar for other healthcare providers.

Complex care requires physicians with previous experience. You’ll find that our physicians are well-trained and well-practiced providers.

We know that healthcare treatments are constantly evolving, and that’s why The Nebraska Medical Center offers a wide range of services, including access to primary and specialized care, such as solid organ transplantation, burn and wound care, geriatrics, blood and bone marrow stem cell transplantation, and other cancer treatments. We know that the more choices that you have available, the better. That’s why we are constantly evaluating and increasing the number of services available to help make you well.

The Nebraska Medical Center recognizes that improving performance means improving outcomes, and that’s why we take our commitment to continually improve quality so seriously. You can see that commitment in our participation with programs such as The Leapfrog Group, a voluntary program aimed at alerting America’s health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality, and customer value will be recognized and rewarded. We also participate in The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Nebraska State Edgerton Quality Award Program.

Improvement also means thinking "outside the box." The Nebraska Medical Center has looked to other industries for suggestions that will make our services better. For example, we have adopted Crew Resource Management, a practice used by the aviation industry to improve patient safety and increase teamwork. We have also partnered with GE Healthcare to implement programs such as Six Sigma and Lean Thinking. We recognize that the only thing that a hospital should be more committed to than providing great health care, is finding a way to provide even better care.

An important way to tell that quality of any organization is to see what their customers say about them. The Nebraska Medical Center seeks input from every patient who receives our care. Moreover, The Nebraska Medical Center is proud to have been a winner of the Consumer Choice Award for the last three consecutive years. The award is given by National Research Corporation based on a survey of the residents of Omaha and the surrounding areas. But perhaps the best way you can tell our commitment to excellence is in the testimonials of patients who have received care from us. We encourage you to seek them out and we think you’ll like what you hear.

In addition to what patients say, an indication of quality is what other well-respected, unbiased sources say about an organization’s healthcare services. We’re proud to report that, for the second consecutive year, The Nebraska Medical Center has been recognized for service excellence for our inpatient services by the J.D. Power and Associates Distinguished Hospital Program. In addition, we have obtained certifications for many of programs from other healthcare bodies. Our ratings and certifications are consistently among the highest granted.

Many different groups offer suggestions for how to make your decision. The Joint Commission (formerly known as JCAHO) offers a resource that provides criteria to help you evaluate quality.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has also developed a guide for choosing quality healthcare to help you make the right health care decision.

WebMD also offers a list of suggested questions for you to review and discuss with your potential provider.

We invite you to take advantage of these resources. The more you learn about healthcare, the more you’ll see why The Nebraska Medical Center is proud of the higher standards it sets.

With outstanding clinical performance; the right blend of accreditation, credentials, experience, and range of services; a continued commitment to improving clinical performance; excellent customer ratings; and high evaluations from outside groups, we feel confident that we can provide the type of care you are seeking. Indeed, deciding where to seek medical care is the most important question you can ask, and we’re proud to tell you that the answer is The Nebraska Medical Center.