Austin Medical Center is providing higher quality health care than most hospitals in the state, according to a state Department of Health report released last Thursday.

The 2010 Minnesota Health Care Quality Report shows AMC exceeds state averages in almost all high quality health care benchmarks set by the state under the 2008 Health Care Reform Law. AMC met expectations in all benchmarks.

“We don’t mind these numbers coming out at all,” Dr. John Coppes, the medical director of AMC said. “What we’re always striving for here is to improve our care.”

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After the 2008 HCR Law went into action, state DOH officials created benchmarks for high quality health care and required all clinics and hospitals throughout the state to report on specific quality indicators for all medical cases they received in 2009, such as whether a hospital gave aspirin to heart attack patients who arrived at the hospital in all cases.

AMC exceeded the state averages, in some cases by large margins, in almost every quality indicator it reported on, according to the report. In instances where hospitals were asked to report on risk areas such as cases with medical complications, AMC’s data shows the hospital met expectations.

Despite the good news, AMC isn’t resting on its laurels. The hospital’s Clinical Practice Committee will review the report, which is the first ever report to measure specific benchmarks for Minnesota health care providers. From there, the committee will determine what areas it should improve in.

“We care about how your health is,” Coppes said. “We want to improve your health, we want to keep you out of the hospital, we want you to be well. We want you to live well. That’s the kind of thing we’re always trying to do.”