{"id":429742,"date":"2025-04-29T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=429742"},"modified":"2025-04-29T14:14:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:14:22","slug":"putting-veterans-first-how-the-western-north-carolina-va-leads-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=429742","title":{"rendered":"Putting Veterans first: How the Western North Carolina VA leads the way"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Western North Carolina VA Health Care System<\/a>\u00a0(WNCVAHCS), and its main hospital the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina, was recognized for its exceptional commitment to employee and patient experience, as demonstrated by its performance metrics.<\/p>\n

The medical center consistently ranks among the top 10 VA facilities for Overall Hospital Rating based on sustained results from the\u00a0Survey of Healthcare Experience of Patients\u00a0(SHEP), VA\u2019s Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL), and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS).<\/p>\n

With an impressive Overall Hospital Rating of 95.1% for fiscal year 2025, this facility surpasses the national average of 73.4%, earning a first-place ranking on the SAIL scorecard.<\/p>\n

As one of the nation\u2019s leading VA health care systems, its dual 5-star rating from the\u00a0Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services<\/a>\u00a0(CMS) highlights exceptional efforts in critical areas such as quality and patient experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur CMS dual 5-Star rating and our high trust scores are the result of building a lasting culture that puts the Veteran first in all that we do,\u201d said David Przestrzelski, associate director for patient care services and chief nurse executive at WNCVAHCS.<\/p>\n

This culture of excellence has earned the medical center numerous awards at VA\u2019s National Customer Experience Symposium, including the\u00a0Best Overall Experience Award in 2024<\/a>\u00a0and 2018, as well as the Best Experience Award for a VHA Facility Complexity Level 1 in 2022.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the secret to its success?<\/h2>\n

Consistently recognized as one of the \u2018best places to work\u2019 among all facilities, according to VA\u2019s All Employee Survey results, the medical center\u2019s unique culture prioritizes employee satisfaction, knowing it directly impacts patient experience (PX).<\/p>\n

Western North Carolina VA Health Care System received the VHA Overall Best Experience award during the 2024 CX Symposium Awards Ceremony.\u00a0Joanna Weber, associate director, and Stacey DiMuzio, veterans experience officer, accepted the award on behalf of the facility. \u00a0\u00a0
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\u201cEmployee satisfaction is one of our most important pillars; therefore, when our team is satisfied, it translates into top-notch patient care,\u201d said Craig Holbert, assistant director, WNCVAHCS.<\/p>\n

Leadership fosters engagement by maintaining open communication and sharing patient feedback and experience data metrics while also highlighting staff accomplishments. Using PX tools, staff are fully engaged in identifying improvement opportunities and developing solutions to drive a better experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe routinely seek out the voices, expertise and innovative thinking of those who have immeasurable insight\u2026 those on the frontlines of their respective work areas,\u201d said Stacey DiMuzio, Veterans Experience officer, WNCVAHCS.<\/p>\n

Leading the way through Innovation and training<\/h2>\n

WNCVAHCS has implemented numerous\u00a0patient experience toolkits, including the \u201cQuiet at Night\u201d initiative. It was also a 2022\u00a0VHA Shark Tank<\/a>\u00a0winner for the\u00a0White Noise Project<\/a>\u00a0for improving inpatient satisfaction. By providing sound machines at Veterans\u2019 bedsides, creating process improvement measures like fixing squeaky doors, acquiring acoustic artwork, and adding padding to wheeled equipment to reduce noise, it improved the hospital\u2019s quietness scores, which currently stand at 75.2% for fiscal year 2025, exceeding the national average of 55.1%.<\/p>\n

The widely embraced\u00a0Tour of Duty training\u00a0is included in new employee orientation, as well as training on patient survey platforms like VSignals and SHEP. All staff complete\u00a0Own the Moment\u00a0training, and leadership participates in WECARE Leadership Rounding to check in with employees and patients. WNCVAHCS was among the first to participate in\u00a0\u201cMoments that Matter: Virtual Reality Training,\u201d by acquiring virtual reality headsets and expanding its use of virtual reality treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best hospital in the United States\u201d<\/h2>\n

Patient feedback says it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never receive the care and attention at a civilian hospital that I get at VA,\u201d commented one Veteran. \u201cThe Charles George VA Medical Center is an excellent facility, and that\u2019s because of the folks who work there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Veteran added, \u201cI\u2019ve been coming to this hospital for 23 years, and for 23 years, this hospital has been exceptional in their care for me. I believe this is the best hospital in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Western North Carolina VA Health Care System\u00a0(WNCVAHCS), and its main hospital the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, North Carolina, was recognized for its exceptional commitment to employee and patient experience, as demonstrated by its performance metrics. The medical center consistently ranks among the top 10 VA facilities for Overall Hospital Rating based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":429744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,1258,260,117,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vetresources","category-employee-experience","category-patient-experience","category-veterans-experience","category-vets-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=429742"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429745,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429742\/revisions\/429745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/429744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=429742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=429742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=429742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}