Yakima’s Memorial Hospital Wins Consumer Choice Award AGAIN!

National Research Corporation (NRC) has named Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital a winner of their 2011/2012 Consumer Choice Award for the third year in a row. Chosen by consumers, the award identifies hospitals having the highest quality and image in over 300 markets throughout the Country. The winners were featured in the October issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

“We are honored that our community has selected Memorial as their hospital of Choice,” says Rick Linneweh, President and CEO of Memorial. “With this recognition, we again re-dedicate ourselves to the mission of quality care in a safe environment with state-of-the-art medicine. Our community deserves nothing less."

For over 16 years, NRC has awarded hospitals whose consumers have recognized them for providing the highest quality healthcare. Winners are determined by consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company’s Ticker survey. This study surveys over 250,000 households representing over 450,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. From the households surveyed, 3,200 consumer named hospitals are analyzed and ranked based on their Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, with the winning facilities being ranked the highest.

Susan L. Henricks, President and Chief Operating Officer at NRC, said “The Consumer Choice Award provides a benchmark for consumers to show how important quality healthcare is to them and to their families.”

“Consumers are taking a more proactive role in their healthcare decisions and demanding higher quality. In a constantly changing healthcare industry, consumer perception is becoming more and more vital to the success of all hospitals,” Henricks said. “At NRC, we know it is imperative to learn from the patient’s experience in order to improve the quality of care. The Consumer Choice Award recognizes those facilities that are meeting or exceeding the needs of consumers - their patients.”