America's 50 best hospitals 2008 released by HealthGrades

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Public release date: 25-Feb-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/h-a5b021808.php

Contact: Shapiro

sshapiro@...

HealthGrades

America's 50 best hospitals 2008 released by HealthGrades

Analysis of patient outcomes at US hospitals from 1999 to 2006

identifies top performers

GOLDEN, Colo. (February 25, 2008) – HealthGrades, the nation’s leading

independent healthcare ratings organization, today identified America’s

50 Best Hospitals, an elite class of top-performing facilities. The

HealthGrades America’s 50 Best Hospital designation represents the

healthcare industry’s only quality ranking based solely on objective

clinical outcomes among U.S. hospitals.

To identify the 2008 designees, HealthGrades researchers analyzed

approximately 100 million hospitalization records from nearly 5,000

hospitals, from the years 1999 to 2006. To be listed among America’s 50

Best Hospitals, facilities must have demonstrated clinical outcomes

among the top five percent in the nation, not just in one medical

specialty, but aggregated across 27 different procedures and diagnoses,

and must have maintained this superior level of care during all years

studied. These hospitals were found to have an average 27 percent lower

mortality rate, on average, than all other U.S. hospitals.

“HealthGrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals demonstrate survival rates

that are among the highest in the nation, and complication rates that

are among the lowest in the nation, and they do it year after year,”

said Dr. Collier, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and lead

study author. “These hospitals are proof that top-notch medical care is

something that can be achieved with dedication and commitment to

quality. As our nation increasingly focuses on disparities in healthcare

cost and quality, it is these elite, world-class facilities that will

lead the way.”

For the second consecutive year, the HealthGrades America’s 50 Best

Hospitals list contains nationally known facilities, such as Cedars

Sinai in Los Angeles, Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the Cleveland Clinic

in Cleveland. But the list also identifies many hospitals that do not

have national brand names, but that continue to demonstrate patient

outcomes that are superior to their peers across the country.

As with all HealthGrades awards, the HealthGrades America’s 50 Best

Hospital designation is based exclusively on clinical outcomes –

risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates for patients at nearly

every hospital in the nation. Hospitals cannot apply for this

independent analysis, and they cannot opt-in or out of being rated.

“Think about it,” said Collier. “Only one percent of the nation’s

hospitals achieve this level of clinical excellence. These hospitals are

doing something very, very special that begins with the leadership and

is infused throughout the hospital and its staff.”

HealthGrades’ annual assessment of mortality and complication rates in

American hospitals analyzes the following procedures and diagnoses and

then risk-adjusts the data to account for differences in patient

populations among hospitals:

* Atrial Fibrillation

* Back and Neck Surgery (Spinal Fusion)

* Back and Neck Surgery (except Spinal Fusion)

* Bowel Obstruction

* Carotid Surgery

* Cholecystectomy

* Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

* Coronary Bypass Surgery

* Coronary Interventional Procedures (Angioplasty and Stents)

* Diabetic Acidosis and Coma

* Gastrointestinal Bleed

* Gastrointestinal Surgeries and Procedures

* Heart Attack

* Heart Failure

* Hip Fracture Repair

* Pancreatitis

* Peripheral Vascular Bypass

* Pneumonia

* Prostatectomy

* Pulmonary Embolism

* Resection/Replacement of Abdominal Aorta

* Respiratory Failure

* Sepsis

* Stroke

* Total Hip Replacement

* Total Knee Replacement

* Valve Replacement Surgery

Methodology

In this analysis, HealthGrades independently and objectively analyzed

approximately 100 million Medicare patient records from fiscal years

1999 through 2006 for 27 medical procedures and diagnoses. To qualify

for the list, hospitals were required to meet minimum thresholds in

terms of patient volumes, quality ratings, and the range of services

provided. Prior to comparing the inhospital mortality and complication

rates of the nation’s hospitals, HealthGrades risk-adjusted the data to

compare on equal footing hospitals that treated sicker patients.

Hospitals with risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates that

scored in the top five percent or better nationally – which demonstrates

superior overall clinical performance – were then recognized as

Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.

Hospitals that received that designation the most consecutive times over

the last six years were named HealthGrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals.

HealthGrades’ methodology can be found in the study and on the company’s

Web site. (Each of the six designations was based on three years of

Medicare data, so eight years of data were studied.)

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HealthGrades makes available to the public, at no charge, the quality

ratings of every nonfederal hospital in the country at

http://www.healthgrades.com.

About HealthGrades

Health Grades, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings

organization, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes

and physicians. Millions of consumers and many of the nation’s largest

employers, health plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades’ independent

ratings and decision support resources to make healthcare decisions

based on the quality of care. More information on the company can be

found at http://www.healthgrades.com.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD

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