2 Mercy hospitals earn top safety grade
Mercy Hospital Fort Smith and Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers received A ratings from the Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that promotes health care quality and safety.
Leapfrog recently released its fall 2016 Hospital Safety Grade. The program assigned letter grades to 2,633 U.S. hospitals and 844 earned an A.
Leapfrog uses 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a score representing a hospital's overall ability to keep patients safe.
The report graded 28 hospitals in Arkansas, and five earned an A. Magnolia Regional Medical Center, Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden and Unity Health White County Medical Center in Searcy also received the top grade. Scores and reports for hospitals across the country are online at www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.
Cornerstone forms home-loan division
Charles Cross, president and CEO of Cornerstone Bank, announced the formation of Cornerstone Home Mortgage, a new residential mortgage division, at its Berryville branch. The bank will continue to have residential loan officers at each of its branches and will process files through Cornerstone Home Mortgage.
Cornerstone Bank is a 104-year-old, Carroll County-based institution with branches in Eureka Springs, Holiday Island, Berryville, Huntsville and Shell Knob, Mo. The bank is under contract on land in Harrison for its coming entry into the Boone County market.
Beaver Water District garners award
Beaver Water District was one of 10 winners of a Platinum Award for Utility Excellence presented by the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies on Oct. 17 during the 2016 Executive Management Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. The award recognizes water utilities that work to balance innovative and successful efforts in economic, social and environmental endeavors.
Beaver Water District, which set a goal of 100 percent compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, is a member of the Partnership for Safe Water and ensures capital planning focuses on maintaining high-quality water. The utility updated its asset management plan and used the information to establish funding requirements for its replacement and refurbishment fund. The district promotes customer satisfaction and stakeholder support to achieve community sustainability through various outreach activities.
The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies is an organization of the largest publicly owned drinking water suppliers in the United States. Beaver Water District supplies drinking water to more than 300,000 people and industries in Northwest Arkansas.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric receives honors
Oklahoma Gas & Electric received two awards for its environmental efforts. For the second-consecutive year, Cogent Reports and Market Strategies International named the company an environmental champion for its support in promoting a clean environment. Keep Oklahoma Beautiful gave the utility its 2016 Vanguard Award for leading the way in responsible adoption of solar technology in Oklahoma.
Cogent surveyed nearly 55,000 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers for the 130 largest U.S. utility companies. Thirty-two made the list of environmental champions voted by their customers as having exceptional dedication to the environment.
Oklahoma Gas & Electric, a subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy Corp., serves approximately 832,000 customers in a service area spanning 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas.
Simmons Foods named Supplier of Year
Simmons Foods received the 2016 Supplier of the Year Award from Dallas-based Homestyle Dining LLC, which owns, operates and franchises the Ponderosa Steakhouse, Bonanza Steakhouse, Bonanza Steak & BBQ and Cole's Backyard Grill restaurant brands. The award was presented to Bob Shade, Simmons Foods' director of business development, in October during Homestyle Dining's annual franchisee conference at the Belterra Resort in Florence, Ind.
The Siloam Springs-based poultry producer has been in business since 1949.
Briefs are for businesses in Northwest Arkansas that are new, have moved or closed, opened a new branch, changed owners or have been honored by an independent organization. Email items to [email protected]. Information will be published as space allows.
SundayMonday Business on 12/04/2016