Awards and recognition

Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards recognize the top 10% of hospitals across the country in 17 specialty care areas. Among those in the top 10%, the very best hospitals are named among the top 100 in the country. 

Research Medical Center is the only hospital in the Kansas City region – and the only hospital in Missouri – to earn the America's Best 100 Hospital for Stroke Care honor this year.

Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards recognize the top 10% of hospitals across the country in 17 specialty care areas. Among those in the top 10%, the very best hospitals are named among the top 100 in the country.

Research Medical Center has received the American College of Cardiology's NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2022. Research Medical Center is one of only 240 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.

The award recognizes Research Medical Center's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that we have reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.

For the 2nd year in a row, Research Medical Center has been named one of America's Best 250 Hospitals for 2022 by Healthgrades. This means that our exceptional team ranks among those who work for the top 5% of hospitals in the country.

Healthgrades is one of the healthcare industry's leading resources that connects consumers, physicians and health systems, and surveys patients on their overall satisfaction with their healthcare providers. For the America's Best 250 Hospitals recognition, Healthgrades ranked hospitals based on their patient engagement efforts, high-quality outcomes and patient safety initiatives, and their focus on continuous quality improvement.

For the 4th year in a row, Research Medical Center has been designated for superior performance in preventing the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays. The distinction places it among the top 10 percent of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data for its excellent performance as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.

Research Medical Center has received the American Heart Association's Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines® – Heart Failure quality achievement award for its commitment to improving outcomes for patients with heart failure, meaning reduced readmissions and more healthy days at home. Regional Medical Center has received this award consecutively since 2013.

The Get With The Guidelines – Heart Failure quality achievement award is earned by hospitals that demonstrate a commitment to treating patients according to the most up-to-date guidelines as outlined by the American Heart Association. Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest evidence – and research-based guidelines. The program aims to increase healthy days at home and reduce hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.

Research Medical Center has received the American Heart Association's Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke quality achievement award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability. Regional Medical Center has received this award consecutively since 2017.

Research Medical Center also received the American Heart Association's Target: Type 2 Honor Roll award. Target: Type 2 Diabetes aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.

The American Heart Association recognizes this hospital for achieving 85% or higher composite adherence to all Mission: LifeLine STEMI Receiving Center Performance Achievement indicators for consecutive 12-month intervals and 75% or higher compliance on all Mission: LifeLine STEMI Receiving Center quality measures and First-Door-to-Device time of 120 minutes or less for transfers to improve the quality care for STEMI patients.

This hospital has achieved 5-stars—for its treatment of stroke care—from Healthgrades® Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 34 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions. A 5-star rating indicates that this hospital's clinical outcomes are statistically significantly better than expected when treating the condition or performing the procedure being evaluated.

To receive the ACTION Registry–GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award, this hospital consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG Premier for eight consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90% for specific performance measures. ACTION Registry-GWTG empowers health care provider teams to consistently treat heart attack patients according to the most current, science-based guidelines and establishes a national standard for understanding and improving the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided for patients with coronary artery disease, specifically high-risk heart attack patients.

By awarding facilities the status of a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, the ACR recognizes breast imaging centers that have earned accreditation in mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, and breast ultrasound (including ultrasound-guided breast biopsy). Peer-review evaluations, conducted in each breast imaging modality by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field, have determined that this facility has achieved high practice standards in image quality, personnel qualifications, facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs.

This facility has been awarded the Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Designation by the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission is an independent organization that awards a Certificate of Distinction to primary stroke centers and comprehensive stroke centers that make exceptional efforts to foster better patient outcomes related to stroke care. These certification programs were developed in collaboration with the Brain Attack Coalition.

The Pathway to Excellence Program® recognizes health care organizations and long term care institutions for positive practice environments where nurses excel. Nurses trust that Pathway-designated organizations respect nursing contributions, support professional development and nurture optimal practice environments. Communities want satisfied nurses because they are better equipped to deliver higher quality care.

Sarah Cannon Transplant & Cellular Therapy at Research Medical Center is a FACT accredited program for adult autologous transplant through the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). FACT accreditation places us in the highest level of transplant programs and assures our services meet the most rigorous standards of blood and marrow transplant.

The Joint Commission has developed an advanced level of certification for programs that must meet the requirements for Disease-Specific Care Certification plus additional, clinically-specific requirements and expectations. This certification improves the quality of care provided to patients, demonstrates commitment to a higher standard of service, provides a framework for organizational structure and management, provides a competitive edge in the marketplace, enhances staff recruitment and development and is recognized by insurers and other third parties.

The Joint Commission has developed an advanced level of certification for programs that must meet the requirements for Disease-Specific Care Certification plus additional, clinically-specific requirements and expectations. This certification improves the quality of care provided to patients, demonstrates commitment to a higher standard of service, provides a framework for organizational structure and management, provides a competitive edge in the marketplace, enhances staff recruitment and development and is recognized by insurers and other third parties.

The American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR) certification demonstrates that this hospital's program is aligned with current guidelines as approved by the AACVPR for the appropriate and effective early outpatient care of patients with cardiac or pulmonary issues. Certified AACVPR programs are recognized as leaders in the field of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation because they offer the most advanced practices available.

The Accredited Chest Pain Center at this hospital has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and undergoing an onsite review by a team of from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care's accreditation review specialists. Key areas in which an Accredited Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include the following: Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system; Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly; Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms; Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures; Ensuring the competence and training of Accredited Chest Pain Center personnel; Maintaining organizational structure and commitment; Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care; and Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

Trauma verification by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma is the highest possible ranking for trauma centers in the United States. This verification recognizes the hospital's dedication to providing the best possible care for all injured patients including 24-hour in-house coverage by highly trained trauma surgeons, critical care nurses and support staff in addition to expert care in specialties such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, burns and crucial care.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

As the gold standard for breast center accreditation, NAPBC evaluates strengths across a wide spectrum of services, including prevention, early detection, diagnosis, support staff, staging, cancer treatment, rehabilitation, the quality of the multidisciplinary team and genetic counseling. To receive accreditation, breast centers must undergo a rigorous evaluation and review of their performance and adherence to NAPBC standards. Based on these stringent, nationally recognized, evidence-based quality measures, accreditation is granted only to those centers that commit to providing the best possible comprehensive care to patients with diseases of the breast.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

The Commission on Cancer (CoC) Accreditation Program encourages hospitals, treatment centers, and other facilities to improve their quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs. These programs focus on prevention, early diagnosis, pretreatment evaluation, staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, surveillance for recurrent disease, support services, and end-of-life care. The availability of a full range of medical services along with a multidisciplinary team approach to patient care at accredited cancer programs has resulted in approximately 80 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer patients being treated in CoC-accredited cancer programs.

This hospital has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval® for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission's national standards for health care quality and safety in hospitals. The accreditation award recognizes this hospital's dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission's state-of-the-art standards.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.

Accreditation by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) means that this hospital has undergone a thorough review of its operational and technical components by a panel of experts. The IAC grants accreditation only to those facilities that are found to be providing quality patient care, in compliance with national standards through a comprehensive application process including detailed case study review. IAC accreditation is a "seal of approval" that patients can rely on as an indication that the facility has been carefully critiqued on all aspects of its operations considered relevant by medical experts in the field of Vascular Testing.