November 29, 2011

Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Preferred for Tenth Consecutive Year

Lincoln, Nebraska-based National Research Corp. (NRC) has named Appleton Medical Center (AMC) and Theda Clark Medical Center (Theda Clark) as 2011/12 Consumer Choice Award winners in Wisconsin.

The recent comprehensive, independent NRC Ticker® survey shows consumers clearly rated ThedaCare’s Fox Cities hospitals as having the best quality, doctors, nurses and image in the Appleton-Oshkosh market for the tenth year in a row.

AMC and Theda Clark are among only seven hospitals in Wisconsin to be named Consumer Choice Award winners. Nationwide, 280 hospitals in 300 markets were picked for the honor from more than 3,200 eligible hospitals. The complete list of hospitals was published in a recent edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. This is the 16th year NRC has awarded hospitals whose consumers have recognized them for providing quality healthcare services.

Area consumers overwhelmingly named AMC and Theda Clark as delivering the area’s highest quality care, said Susan L. Hendricks, NRC’s president and chief operating officer. She said the winners were determined based on consumer perceptions of quality and image as collected in the company’s annual study.

Consumer Choice Award winners like AMC and Theda Clark received the highest ratings from consumers in four areas:

• Overall quality
• Best doctors
• Best nurses
• Overall image and reputation

“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,” Hendricks said. “The Consumer Choice Award recognizes those facilities that are meeting or exceeding the needs of consumers – the patients.”

Kathryn Correia, president of AMC and Theda Clark and senior vice president of ThedaCare, said receiving the Consumer Choice Award is very gratifying because it comes from community members.

“For 10 years, our patients and their families have said they choose Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark,” she said. “The Consumer Choice Award recognizes our staff members, healthcare professionals, volunteers, and board members for the effort they put forth every single day to build a healthy community.”

While Theda Clark and AMC receive the honor, Correia said the Consumer Choice Award recognizes the work being done by ThedaCare’s 6,175 employees throughout the region along with the independent physicians and their staffs who serve patients at the hospitals.

“The Consumer Choice designation isn’t just for the hospitals, but for everyone associated with ThedaCare,” she said. “We all work together to provide the best care possible for our patients.”

The Consumer Choice designation is based on a consumer survey of healthcare decision makers in the Appleton-Oshkosh market, and was part of a national survey of more than 250,000 households representing 400,000 consumers in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. National results have a margin of error of plus or minus 0.2 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence. NRC has been a leader in healthcare-specific performance measurement for two decades.

The 2011/12 NRC Ticker survey is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to measure hospital performance and preferences contains more consumer responses than NRC’s study.

AMC is a 160-bed acute care hospital that opened in 1958. In addition to general medical and surgical care, services include the Appleton Heart Institute, a fully staffed emergency department, pediatrics, birthing services, a comprehensive cancer center, and ThedaCare Orthopedics Plus, which integrates orthopedics, sports medicine, outpatient rehabilitation and other services. Appleton Medical Center is an accredited Chest Pain Center by the national Society of Chest Pain Centers.

Theda Clark is a 166-bed acute care hospital founded in 1909. In addition to general medical and surgical care, specialized services include a birth center, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin - Fox Valley, the region’s only American College of Surgeons Verified Level II Trauma Center, and ThedaStar Air Medical Helicopter. Recognized centers of care include the Theda Clark Stroke Center, the Bariatric Program at Theda Clark, and the Aylward Outpatient Surgery Center.

ThedaCare™ is a community health system consisting of five hospitals: Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Shawano Medical Center, and Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca. ThedaCare also includes ThedaCare Physicians, ThedaCare Behavioral Health, and ThedaCare at Home. ThedaCare is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with more than 6,175 employees. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCI) is an industry leader, with more than two decades of experience in healthcare performance measurement and improvement.

For more information, media may contact Megan Wilcox, APR, (megan.wilcox@thedacare.org), public relations and corporate specialist for ThedaCare, at (920) 830-5847, or call the Theda Clark Medical Center switchboard at (920) 729-3100 and ask for the marketing person on call.