The Miami VA Healthcare System was recently recognized with a prestigious national award for the top quality medical care they provide to the veterans in South Florida.  They received the Secretary of Veterans Affairs' 2007 Robert W. Carey Trophy Award for Performance Excellence Award.  The Award:

• promotes systems management awareness and implementation through the Department;
• provides a model against which organizations can assess their transformation efforts, organizational effectiveness, and performance compared to other public and private sector organization; and,
• inspires organizations and individuals to do their best to improve throughout the VA.

The Carey Trophy Award is the Department's highest recognition which includes Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and National Cemetery Administration (NCA) for organizational excellence and follows the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Criteria.  The Award is dedicated to the memory of the late Robert W. Carey, who as Director of the Veterans Affairs Regional Office and Insurance Center in Philadelphia, PA, was recognized as a quality leader and a champion for excellence in the Federal government.

The Miami VA Healthcare System is proud of its achievements providing exceptional care to America's veterans and being a care provider and employer of choice.  Here are just a few indicators to share:

• Radiology report verification within 48 hours is the VHA benchmark performance.
• Preventive Screening (Alcohol) is best performance in VHA.
• Preventive Cancer Screening exceeds HEDIS and meets top VHA performance.
• Cardiology Involvement (early response to Acute Coronary Syndrome) meets top VHA performance.
• Specialty consultation timeliness meets top VHA performance.

The Honorable Michael J. Kussman, MD, Under Secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, presented the award to the Miami VA Healthcare System at a ceremony in Washington, DC.  The Miami VA was represented by individuals from across the Healthcare System. 

The Miami VA Healthcare System is the proud recipient, in 2005 and 2006, of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert W. Carey Performance Excellence Award for providing the highest quality care by an organization in the Department of Veterans Affairs, and of the 2007 prestigious Governor of Florida Sterling Award, in recognition for performance superiority in our management and operations.