UMH Receives State Five Star Award

During the 64th Annual Texas Vital Statistics Conference, held December 10-12 in Austin, TX, Uvalde Memorial Hospital received 2 prestigious state awards. Norma Castro, birth registrar, and Grace Gonzales, clerk, of Uvalde Memorial Hospital’s health information management (HIM) department, accepted the Five Star Service Award from the Texas Department of State Health Services’ vital statistics unit and the Office of Attorney General Award for Acknowledgement of Paternity.

The Five Star Service award is given to only those hospitals in the state that have met a list of criteria for qualification set by the vital statistics unit.

Uvalde Memorial was placed in the Exemplary Winners category meeting 100% of criterion. Only 13 other hospitals in the state fell into the exemplary category and an additional 53 were recognized for meeting 97% of criterion.

This year’s honors marked the 17^thconsecutive year the hospital has received the award.

Qualifications include legal and statistical measurements on all birth registrations completed, timeliness of birth registrations of babies born at the hospital, and training standards of birth registrars at the facility. Hospitals must also have been recipients of the Office of Attorney General Award for Acknowledgement of Paternity and Department of State Health Services ImmTrac Award for Excellence in 2018 to qualify.

The Office of Attorney General Award for Acknowledgement of Paternity was also received at the convention. To achieve the paternity acknowledgement criteria, birth registrars must complete the 71% state average or higher of potential Acknowledgement of Paternity (AOP) from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018.