Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa and Kaiser Foundationhospitals in Santa Rosa and Vacaville were the three North Bay facilities on latest list of the nations top performers in key quality measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor ofU.S.health care organizations.

Sutter Santa Rosa said it was recognized for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, childrens asthma, stroke and venous thrombo embolism, as well as inpatient psychiatric services.

Kaiser Permanente said in the past several years it has had an intensive focus on improving the care and service experience for members.

The hospitals were among 620 in the U.S.that earned the distinction this year from The Joint Commission.

Eachtop performerhospital met two 95 percentperformance thresholds on accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission in 2011. The ratings were based on aggregated data.

A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Examples include giving aspirin on arrival for heart attack patients, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery and providing a home-management plan for children with asthma, according to Sutter Santa Rosa, a Sutter Health affiliate.

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Northern California Center for Well-Being on Sept. 14 held its annual Celebration of Dreams, honoring localhealth care professionals and individualsfor improving overall health in the region.

The event, a veritable whos who in local health care, recognized Petaluma-basedAmys Kitchen as healthy business leader for its establishment of primary care Family Health Centers at its Santa Rosa and Oregon plants. The centers are aimed at maintaining health of workers and their families and reducing ever-increasing premiums for the employer. The centers are a five-minute walk from the manufacturing plants and have a co-pay of only $5.

The following individuals were also honored:

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Health Care: Three North Bay hospitals make U.S. ‘top performer’ list