Nancy Wood, RN, center left, infection prevention specialist at Canton-Potsdam Hospital, pictured with Debra Marques-Seaman, RN, center right, director of Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s Medical/Surgical Inpatient Floor 3, displays the IPRO Quality Award. They are flanked by Theodore O. Will, IPRO CEO at left, and Dr. Clare B. Bradley, senior vice president and chief medical officer at right.

 POTSDAM -- Canton-Potsdam Hospital has been recognized with a 2013 IPRO Quality Award for cutting some infection rates to zero.

The awards, given annually by IPRO, recognize organizations and professionals that demonstrate a commitment to improving the quality of care provided to New York’s Medicare beneficiaries.

IPRO is the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for New York State, and manages the state’s End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The awards were given during IPRO’s 29th annual meeting, June 4 at the LaGuardia Marriott Hotel.

“Canton-Potsdam Hospital has demonstrated significant improvements in the care it provides, as a result of a collaborative and focused effort,” says IPRO Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Clare B. Bradley MD, “We thank Canton-Potsdam for their commitment to improving the health of New Yorkers.”

Canton-Potsdam Hospital received the award for elimination of central line-associated blood stream infections and maintenance of a 0 percent rate since January 2011, and for maintaining a 0 percent catheter-associated urinary-tract infection rate since the beginning of the project in November 2011. “Their teams are clearly dedicated to improving the care and quality of the patient experience,” said Dr. Bradley.

“It is gratifying and motivating to our employees to receive this award,” said David B. Acker, Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s president and CEO. “We’re fortunate to have the foresight of Sue M. Hodgson, CPH vice president for quality and performance improvement, who led a team encompassing staff leaders in quality and infection prevention, nursing staff, housekeeping, and others. This team effort has had a profound and lasting impact on the environment in which our patients receive care,” he said. “It reaffirms our unrelenting commitment to best practice.”