St. Clair Health still providing excellent care with continued growth
The Dunlap Family Outpatient Center is just across the road from the hospital's emergency room
The Dunlap Family Outpatient Center
St. Clair Health's emergency room
St. Clair Health is a nationally recognized, integrated health system in Pittsburgh with more than 2,500 employees and 600 physicians serving 500,000 residents of the region.
It encompasses St. Clair Hospital, St. Clair Medical Group, a 135-physician multispecialty group, St. Clair Health Foundation and other related entities. In 2016, St. Clair Health became a Mayo Clinic Care Network member and participates with all major insurers.
The St. Clair Health System was recently recognized at the Best of the Best community choice awards voted upon by Observer-Reporter readers. The health system’s emergency room received a nomination and additional nod for the Best Overall South Hills Business.
“We are very proud and honored to be recognized as one of the Best of the Best,” said Barry Zaiser, senior vice president and chief strategic officer of St. Clair Health. “We are particularly excited because this is the community voting. People are recognizing our efforts to be excellent in all that we do. We are really excited about that.”
St. Clair is the only hospital in Pennsylvania and one of only 33 hospitals nationwide to have earned 20 straight ‘A’ ratings from The Leapfrog Group for hospital safety. Additionally, Newsweek has ranked St. Clair among the best hospitals in Pennsylvania and received the 2021 Guardian of Excellence Award from Press Ganey for patient satisfaction ratings, placing St. Clair among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation.
St. Clair Health was once again recognized as Certified Level 9 in the annual Digital Health Most Wired Survey from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. This is the 11th consecutive year that St. Clair Health has been named a Digital Health Most Wired hospital by CHIME.
This is one of many accolades St. Clair has received in recent years that continues a tradition of excellence that is unsurpassed in Western Pennsylvania. Other achievements include:
Earning 20 consecutive ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group, placing St. Clair among the top 1.1 percent of hospitals in America
Being one of only two hospitals in the region to receive a 5-star quality rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2022 — the highest rating available
Being ranked among the best hospitals in Pennsylvania by multiple evaluators, including U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek
Receiving the 2021 Guardian of Excellence Award from Press Ganey for patient satisfaction ratings among the top 5 percent in the nation.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded St. Clair Health a five-star rating for 2022. This is the second year in a row and the fourth time in the last five years that St. Clair has received the highest possible rating.
Zaiser said it takes a team effort for St. Clair to be continually recognized for its excellence in patient care.
“I think there are a number of keys to St. Clair’s success over the last 15 years or so,” he said. “A very fundamental part of it is that the board (of directors), medical staff and management have been on the same page about focusing on clinical excellence and really putting the patient at the forefront of everything we do. We strive to deliver excellent clinical care.”
Zaiser said St. Clair also recognizes that families are impacted by their loved one’s medical care.
“We also recognize it is not just the patients; it is their families as well,” he said. “We made a goal of being at the top of patient experience going back to 2008, and we have just kept the focus on that. We also recognize it is important to elevate clinical services that we can provide to the communities that we serve. We have also been focused on growth, not just for growth’s sake, but to fully extend our great physicians and our clinical services into the communities that we serve.”
Zaiser said St. Clair has accomplished many goals over the last 15 years.
“We have both a local and national reputation in patient experience, particularly in our emergency department, where we were ranked the number one emergency room department a few years ago in terms of patient experience,” he said. “We still have areas where we want to elevate the quality and experience. Our goal is to always be in the top 10 percent in the country. Our goal is not to just be good, but be excellent in all those areas.”
Zaiser said St. Clair is dedicated to making the best workplace possible, which includes employee training on lean principles, a systematic approach to analyzing the flow of information and materials to eliminate waste, process variation and imbalance in work areas.
“The culture is built on excellent values,” he said. “There is respect for everyone who works here. I think it is a very good place to work. We try to make sure we are always investing in them (employees).”
Zaiser said St. Clair continues to make an investment in its infrastructure, including the Robinson Township Multispecialty Suite.
“We already had offices in the area, but those practices were growing at the same time we noticed a need for better-coordinated care for Robinson Township residents,” Zaiser said. “Securing the Robinson Plaza location allowed us to support practices as they grew, and most importantly, bring multidisciplinary care to serve the community’s health care needs.”
Zaiser said the latest gem in the St. Clair Health System was the Dunlap Family Outpatient Center opening, which represents the keystone of a $152 million master site-plan investment for the 329-bed hospital’s campus.
“It is state of the art,” he said. “It is really designed to be convenient for patients receiving outpatient surgery, imaging, cardiology, physical therapy. We are excited to be able to offer those services to the community.”
For more information, visit stclair.org.