WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — National Research Corporation is proud to announce the 2015 Path to Excellence and Innovative Best Practice award winners. The winners were recognized last night, Sunday, September 20, during an awards banquet at the 21st Annual NRC Picker Patient-Centered Care Symposium in Washington, D.C.

More than 30 National Research clients received the Path to Excellence award. The award recipients were selected based on their achievement status within categories that patients have identified as being most important to the quality of their care. The award is only bestowed upon those organizations that are ranked by patients as being a top performer in one of the following categories: Rate Hospital, Specialty Hospital: Rank Hospital, Children’s Hospital: Overall Rating, Adult: Would Recommend Doctor’s Office, Pediatric: Would Recommend Doctor’s Office, Improvement Planner Champion, and Most Improved Client. Click here to learn more about the award categories and see the winners.

Sentara Princess Anne Hospital (Sentara Healthcare) in Virginia Beach, VA, received the Innovative Best Practice award. The award is given to an organization that has demonstrated best practices resulting in significant improvements in patient-centered care and healthcare outcomes. National Research defines a best practice in patient-centered care as an innovative use of resources with documented results of significant improvement in cost, quality, patient satisfaction, and safety—all factors that affect the health of an organization and its patients.

The other top two finalists for the Innovative Best Practice award were Sentara Leigh Hospital (Sentara Healthcare) in Norfolk, VA and Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center in Woodland Hills, CA.

“Implementing improvement processes are difficult and require large amounts of time and resources, so when organizations make the commitment to look past those constraints, it really defines who the winners are,” said Helen Hrdy, Senior Vice President of Client Service at National Research.

About Symposium

The NRC Picker Patient-Centered Care Symposium provides an opportunity for healthcare professionals to network and share best practices related to improving the patient experience across the healthcare continuum. The event encompasses leading professional speakers, hands-on breakout sessions, and topical agenda items that cover the latest trends in healthcare.

About National Research Corporation

For more than 30 years, National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCIA and NRCIB) has been at the forefront of patient-centered care. Today, the company’s focus on empowering customer-centric healthcare across the continuum extends patient-centered care to incorporate families, communities, employees, senior housing residents, and other stakeholders.

National Research is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. For more information, call 800-388-4264, write to [email protected], or visit www.nationalresearch.com.

CONTACT: Maya Clanton
         Communications Manager
         National Research Corporation
         800-388-4264
         [email protected]