For the third year in a row, North Valley Hospital has received the Overall Best Performer Award from Avatar International.

The award recognizes high-performing hospitals that demonstrate consistency of highly-rated experiences by patients throughout the organization. Avatar International is a national leader in continuous quality improvement that measures customer expectations in health care.

The Overall Best Performance award is based on the results of the hospital's 2010 patient surveys and represents the top 10 percentile in Avatar's National Database. It is awarded to those hospitals with the highest overall combined score for inpatient, outpatient, emergency department and ambulatory surgery.

Since 2002, North Valley Hospital has used the Avatar patient satisfaction system to obtain detailed information about the care provided to patients who are admitted to the hospital. North Valley Hospital has been a recipient of the Exceeding Patient Expectations Award every year since 2002.

For more information, call 863-3500 or visit online at www.nvhosp.org.