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White Plains Hospital Earns Prestigious Magnet® Status – the Highest Standard for Nursing Excellence – for Third Consecutive Time

December 9, 2021

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (December 9, 2021) — White Plains Hospital announced today that it has been re-designated as a Magnet organization for the third time by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association. Magnet designation is the highest and most prestigious international distinction a healthcare organization can receive for nursing excellence. Only about nine percent of hospitals in the United States are currently Magnet designated and just two percent have received this designation three times.

“We are so proud to receive the honor of Magnet designation once again,” said Susan Fox, President and CEO of White Plains Hospital. “While Magnet is the ultimate credential for high-quality nursing, this is a tremendous achievement that recognizes the work of everyone in our organization for working as a team to support our patients.”

To be recognized as a Magnet hospital, healthcare organizations must pass a rigorous and lengthy review process demanding widespread participation from leadership and staff. The path to Magnet status requires extensive written documentation to demonstrate qualitative and quantitative evidence related to patient care and outcomes as well as completion of a multi-day comprehensive on-site visit by Magnet appraisers. The ANCC Magnet survey team conducted a three-day site survey with White Plains Hospital in September 2021, interviewing more than 300 people from the Hospital and community.

“This Magnet designation is a direct reflection of the high caliber of our nursing professionals. The culture of nursing at White Plains Hospital is one in which our staff is encouraged and supported to begin and end their careers here. We provide them with countless opportunities for growth, education and professional development,” said Leigh Anne McMahon, DNP, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, Executive Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at White Plains Hospital. “I am constantly impressed by the talent, leadership, support and unstoppable work ethic that our nursing staff demonstrates every day for their patients and each other.”

The Magnet program was created by the American Nurses Association in December 1990, while the first hospital in the U.S. to be named Magnet was in 1994. The Magnet model is designed to provide a framework for nursing practice, research, and measurement of outcomes. The foundation of this model is composed of various elements deemed essential to delivering superior patient care. These include the quality of nursing leadership and coordination and collaboration across specialties, as well as processes for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of care.

Magnet recognition has been shown to provide specific benefits to hospitals and their communities, such as:
• Higher patient satisfaction with nurse communication, availability of help, and receipt of discharge information
• Lower risk of 30-day mortality and lower failure to rescue
• Higher job satisfaction among nurses
• Lower reported intentions among nurses to leave current position

White Plains Hospital initially achieved Magnet recognition in 2012 and 2016. Evaluation for re-accreditation occurs every four years.



White Plains Hospital is a proud member of the Montefiore Health System, serving as its tertiary hub of advanced care in the Hudson Valley. The Hospital is a 292-bed not-for-profit health care organization with the primary mission of providing exceptional acute and preventive medical care to all people who live in, work in or visit Westchester County and its surrounding areas. Centers of Excellence include the Center for Cancer Care, The William & Sylvia Silberstein Neonatal & Maternity Center and The Ruth and Jerome A. Siegel Stroke Center. The Hospital’s Flanzer Emergency Department is the busiest in Westchester County, with more than 64,000 patient visits a year. White Plains Hospital performs lifesaving emergency and elective angioplasty in its Joan and Alan Herfort, MD, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Marie Promuto Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. White Plains Hospital has outpatient medical facilities across Westchester, including multispecialty practices in Armonk, New Rochelle, Somers and Yorktown Heights; and Scarsdale Medical Group locations in Harrison and Scarsdale.

The Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission and earned its recognition as a Top Performer for Key Quality Measures® in 2015 and 2013. The Hospital received Magnet® designation in 2012, 2016 and 2021 from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The Hospital earned a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), one of 16 hospitals in the nation, and the Hospital's Bariatric Surgical Center is accredited as a Comprehensive Center under the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP). White Plains Hospital has also received full accreditation for its breast cancer program from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) and The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) recognized White Plains Hospital as a top 10% performing hospital for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2019. In 2021, White Plains Hospital received the Outstanding Patient Experience Award from Healthgrades® for the 6th time and was the only Hospital in Westchester to be awarded with an “A” Safety Grade from the Leapfrog Group for the 6th consecutive time.
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