University Hospitals Case Medical Center wins quality prize

CLEVELAND - It was a beautiful day for a big party outside of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland on Tuesday.

As many as 8,000 employees of the hospital attended a celebratory luncheon where the institution was presented with the 2012 American Hospital Association - McKesson Quest for Quality Prize.

UH Case Medical Center Chief Quality Officer William Annable told NewsChannel5 the prize was a hard-fought team victory.

"This is a national award, the only one in the country and we worked hard to get it," said Annable. "It's been a 10-year journey to get to this level and I'm so glad for the team to have this kind of recognition."

The award named UH Case Medical Center the top hospital in the nation for its leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety.

"It was a rigorous process," Annable said. "There were 4,000 hospitals eligible, 50-some applied, it was a major application... they examined the hospital in great detail, looked at all the metrics, talked to a lot of the staff and gave us the award."

UH Case Medical Center is the first, large, urban, academic medical center to earn the award.

Smaller celebrations were also held at the system's satellite facilities area wide.