Rural Health Association of Oklahoma Names OFMQ Organization of the Year
 
Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ) was named Organization of the Year by the Rural Health Association of Oklahoma (RHAO) on September 8 at an awards ceremony.  RHAO President Rick Ernest presented OFMQ President and CEO Jim Williams with an award plaque to honor the organization’s accomplishments. 

OFMQ works to transform the culture in rural hospital settings to adopt quality improvement, redesign hospital systems to adopt evidence-based practice such as standing orders, implement technology in the healthcare delivery system, and to measure and report results showing the effect of these changes on patient safety and outcomes.  OFMQ works hand-in-hand with Oklahoma’s rural and critical access hospitals (CAH) to:

• Increase the number of CAHs collecting and reporting performance data in heart failure, acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and pneumonia
• Use data to identify opportunities for improvement
• Provide technical assistance and education on quality improvement processes and technologies 
• Engage physicians in new learning opportunities
• Promote a culture of quality and patient safety among hospital leadership
• Implement proven quality improvement processes (evidence-based medicine)

Every year, OFMQ also partners with the OSU Center for Rural Health and the Rural Health Association of Oklahoma to host the annual Oklahoma Rural Hospital Conference, which in 2006 brought together 200 professionals from 63 Oklahoma hospitals for two days of extensive learning and networking.

At the RHAO awards ceremony, state senators Patrick Anderson and Susan Paddock as well as state representatives Danny Morgan and Susan Winchester were named Legislators of the Year.  Rob Lake, CEO of Great Plains Regional Medical Center, was named Hospital Administrator of the Year.  Dr. Duane Koehler, DO, was named Physician of the Year.