Keweenaw Memorial Health Center Receives the 2007 Governor’s Award of Excellence for Improving Care in the Ambulatory Care Setting

Keweenaw Memorial Health Center has received the 2007 Governor’s Award of Excellence for Improving Care in the Ambulatory Care Setting.  Presented by the Governor, in partnership with MPRO, Michigan’s Quality Improvement Organization, the award honors Michigan physicians’ offices that are performing quality initiatives to improve patient care.

Award criterion aligns with the Physician Office Quality Improvement Program including the Doctor’s Office Quality-Information Technology (DOQ-IT). The DOQ-IT project promotes the adoption of electronic health record systems in small-to-medium sized physician offices. The clinical topics addressed by the Governor’s Award have been designated as national health care priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  Clinical areas of focus are individually selected from one of the following areas: preventive care, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, or cancer screening, Keweenaw Memorial Health Center was selected in the clinical area of preventive care. 

Led by project coordinator, Kelly Kaczmarek, a multidisciplinary team was established that included Christina Kilpela, RN and Julie Langley, LPN.  “We used nationally recognized standards to assure that consistent care and evidenced-based medicine and protocols were carried out to realize notable improvement and betters outcomes,” said Kaczmarek. 

On May 7, 2008, MPRO honored the Keweenaw Memorial Health Center for its quality improvement efforts. A special awards ceremony was held at the Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath, Michigan.  2007, marks the seventh time that the Governor and MPRO have presented the awards.