Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has received the Women's Choice Award from WomenCertified® distinguishing it as one of the 2012 America's Best Hospitals for Patient Experience. The award is based on robust criteria that consider female patient satisfaction and what women say they want from a hospital including quality physician communications, responsiveness of nurses and support staff, cleanliness, and trusted referrals from other women. WomenCertified represents the collective voice of female consumers and is a trusted referral source for top businesses and brands identified as meeting the needs and preferences of women.
"We are proud to have this acknowledgement of the extraordinary level of care that we provide to the women and newborns of this region," said Constance A. Howes, President and CEO of Women & Infants Hospital. "This recognition gives the community reassurance of the high quality, compassionate care that is provided each and every day here at Women & Infants Hospital."
Women make or influence more than 90 percent of health care decisions for themselves and their families, according to a study published by the American Academy of Family Physicians. The Women's Choice Award signals that a hospital meets high standards regarding a woman's preferences, and the distinction allows women to make an informed decision about where to go for care for themselves or their family.
"Women & Infants Hospital's selection by WomenCertified as one of America's Best 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience differentiates it from other choices in the area," explains Delia Passi, CEO and founder of WomenCertified, and former publisher of Working Woman and Working Mother magazines. "Women have many choices when it comes to health care, and they set the standard for customer service. Women's Choice Award recipients have demonstrated extraordinary service in meeting the needs of women and their families, and represent the smart choice for women."
Hospitals qualify for this highly selective annual list based on an in-depth proprietary scoring process. The scoring incorporates a national, standardized survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) and an analysis that weighs criteria identified as the most important to women for patient satisfaction. Additionally, the scoring incorporates WomenCertified's in-depth research on customer satisfaction among women, including a joint study on customer satisfaction by gender conducted with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The 100 best scores in four hospital size categories determine the Award winners. WomenCertified accepts absolutely no payment in exchange for placement on the list.
"Recognizing the best hospitals nationwide that are women-friendly and align with women's identified preferences is important to our mission at WomenCertified, where women help other women with tough, consumer decisions," Passi concludes. "Most importantly, when a woman sees the Women's Choice Award at her local hospital, she'll know the hospital values her experience as a critical component of her and her loved one's care."
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women's medicine, Women & Infants is the eighth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country with nearly 8,400 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened what was at the time the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.
New England's premier hospital for women and newborns, Women & Infants and Brown offer fellowship programs in gynecologic oncology, maternal-fetal medicine, urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric and perinatal pathology, gynecologic pathology and cytopathology, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. It is home to the nation's only mother-baby perinatal psychiatric partial hospital, as well as the nation's only fellowship program in obstetric medicine.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group and the National Institutes of Health's Pelvic Floor Disorders Network.
About WomenCertified®
WomenCertified®, the voice of female consumers, awards businesses and brands based on consumer experience. WomenCertified represents the collective voice of women so they can help each other identify businesses that deserve our loyalty and referrals. WomenCertified awards businesses and brands that meet a higher standard of customer experience the Women's Choice Award. The Award is based on surveys of tens of thousands of women, as well as research conducted in partnership with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on what drives the consumer experience for women vs. men, which led to the development of the Female Consumer Satisfaction Index. Visit www.womencertified.com.