Hershey Medical Center named consumer choice for 10th consecutive year

Hershey, Pa. -- For the 10th consecutive year, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has been named a Consumer Choice Award winner for Pennsylvania by National Research Corp. (NRC), an independent health-care performance measurement company based in Lincoln, Neb.
    
NRC publicly announced its 2008/09 Consumer Choice Award winners in the Sept. 29 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine. In compiling the annual NRC Healthcare Market Guide for 2008, the firm surveyed more than 200,000 households representing more than 400,000 consumers inquiring which hospitals have the best overall quality and image. Only nine hospitals in Pennsylvania, including the Medical Center, received NRC honors this year. Penn State Hershey Medical Center has now earned the NRC Consumer Choice Award for 10 consecutive years.
 
"We are proud to be recognized year after year by our patients and families," said Harold L. Paz, Medical Center chief executive officer, senior vice president for health affairs, and dean of Penn State College of Medicine. "Maintaining a high level of patient satisfaction along with state-of-the-art medical care is fundamental to our mission of serving the health care needs of central Pennsylvania."  
  
According to NRC, the Healthcare Market Guide is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to measure hospital performance and preferences contains more consumer responses than NRC’s study.
    
Founded in 1981, National Research Corp. is based on a mission of providing the most actionable, up-to-date market information to health care organizations. According to NRC, the corporation has conducted more performance studies for health-care organizations than any other firm in the country.