For Release:
Immediate (Friday, August 31, 2007)

Contact:
Fletcher Allen Health Care
802-847-2886

Public Invited to Comment on Fletcher Allen’s Act 53 Report Card

BURLINGTON, VT – Members of the public are invited to comment on Fletcher Allen Health Care’s most recent Act 53 Hospital Report Card at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 11, 2007, in the McClure Lobby Conference Room on the Medical Center Campus in Burlington.

Members of Fletcher Allen’s Board of Trustees will be present at the public meeting, which takes place during a regularly scheduled Board of Trustees Educational Session.  The meeting will begin promptly at 3:00 p.m. with a presentation of Fletcher Allen’s 2006 Act 53 Hospital Report Card, followed by the public comment session.

The 2006 Act 53 Hospital Report Card, published in June 2007, ranks Fletcher Allen’s performance on more than 30 Quality of Care measures for the treatment of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and for the reduction of surgical infections. Also included are measures of nurse staffing and the volume and mortality for selected procedures.

The Act 53 Hospital Report Card also includes information on patient satisfaction, quality, safety, finances, governance, public activities, Fletcher Allen’s compliance process and its Community Needs Assessment. It also contains links to comparative information for all hospitals on the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) Web site.

The Hospital Report Card, also known as the Community Report, is required by Act 53, which is a state law relating to hospital and health system accountability passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2003.

To view Fletcher Allen’s 2006 Act 53 Hospital Report Card, click the gold “Act 53 Hospital Report Card” link at www.fletcherallen.org.  To obtain a paper copy of the report, please contact Fletcher Allen’s Marketing & Communications Office at (802) 847-2886.

###