By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Alabaster’s Shelby Baptist Medical Center has been named a “Top performer on key quality measures” for the third straight year by a national health care accreditation commission.

The Joint Commission, which accredits health care organizations across the country, recently named Shelby Baptist, along with Princeton Baptist in Birmingham and Walker Baptist in Jasper, as top performers.

The three medical centers were recognized for their achievements in treating heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia and for performing surgery.

“Safe, effective care is what matters most to our patients. Physicians and staff at our hospitals understand that and strive daily to deliver safe, effective care,” Baptist Health System President and CEO Shane Spees wrote in a release. “That is why Baptist Health System has made a strong commitment to use evidence-based clinical care processes that have been proven to lead to the best possible outcomes.

“We are proud to receive, again this year, the distinction of being named top performers by The Joint Commission,” Spees added.

The top performer designation is awarded to hospitals “who attain and sustain excellence in clinical care,” according to the commission. Of the more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide to report performance data in 2012, about 1,100 of them were named top performers.

As a result of the top performer designation, the three Baptist Health System medical centers will be recognized on the Joint Commission’s Qualitycheck.org website and in two of the commission’s publications: “The Joint Commission Perspectives” and “The Source.”

“All the top performer hospitals – such as Princeton, Shelby and Walker Baptist – have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to quality improvement, and they should be proud of their achievement,” Dr. Mark R. Chassin, president and chief executive officer of the Joint Commission, wrote in the release.