Saint Francis Medical Center’s Orthopedics and Cardiac Services programs today received multiple five-star ratings and national recognition from HealthGrades®, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. The designations indicate that Saint Francis’ patient outcomes are better than predicted.
Millions of patients rely on HealthGrades’ hospital ratings to find the highest-quality hospitals in their communities. This is because HealthGrades ratings and awards are based solely on clinical performance.
The HealthGrades study, an analysis of patient outcomes in the nation’s 5,000 hospitals, reviewed patient records from the most current federal governmental data from the years 2007 to 2009. This research is the only comprehensive analysis of its kind focused on how well hospitals provide effective and appropriate patient care resulting in superior quality.
Saint Francis embraces all efforts to ensure only the highest quality of services are available to the community and has been recognized for the following HealthGrades 2011 Quality Awards:
• Ranked among the top five in Missouri for cardiac surgery
• Five-star rated for coronary bypass surgery
• Recipient of the HealthGrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award™ for two consecutive years (2010-2011); one of only two hospitals in Missouri to receive this designation
• Ranked among the top 10 percent in the nation for overall orthopedics for two years in a row (2010-2011)
• Ranked among the top 5 percent in the nation for joint replacement
• Ranked among the top three hospitals in Missouri for overall orthopedics for two years in a row (2010-2011)
• Ranked among the top three hospitals in Missouri for joint replacement
• Five-star rated for overall orthopedics for two years in a row (2010-2011)
• Five-star rated for joint replacement for two years in a row (2010-2011)
• Five-star rated for total hip replacement for three years in a row (2009-2011)
• Five-star rated for total knee replacement for two years in a row (2010-2011)
• Five-star rated for hip fracture repair for two years in a row (2010-2011)
“Our commitment to this community is evident in our consistent quality outcomes and compassionate care,” says Saint Francis President and Chief Executive Officer Steven C. Bjelich, FACHE-D. “From the physicians and nurses who provide expert clinical care, to the dedicated employees in support services such as housekeeping, maintenance and the business office, Saint Francis takes medicine to the highest power.”
A wide variation in quality exists among American hospitals, according to the 13th Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America study. Patients were less likely to experience a major complication in five-star rated hospitals when compared with one-star rated hospitals across a range of procedures studied, such as knee replacement and hip replacement surgeries. Top-performing hospitals also dramatically outperformed the national average, with patients experiencing, on average, 63 percent fewer in-hospital complications among the procedures studied.
When looking at 17 conditions and procedures in which mortality rates are measured, such as cardiac surgery, top-rated hospitals had a 53 percent lower mortality rate than the U.S. national average for procedures and diagnoses ranging from bypass surgery to treatment for heart attack. When the top-rated hospitals were compared with the poorest performers, there was an even greater quality gap: a 72 percent lower risk of mortality.
The study also found that:
• On average, one in nine patients developed a hospital-acquired condition, across the nine procedures evaluated for in-hospital complications, from 2007 to 2009.
• Complications showed a large variation between the “best” and the “worst” hospitals for the nine procedures studied. Five-star rated hospitals had significantly lower complication rates across all three years studied.
HealthGrades Ratings
The HealthGrades study, the largest annual report of its kind, analyzed patient outcomes in nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 5,000 hospitals over the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
HealthGrades’ hospital ratings and awards reflect the track record of patient outcomes at hospitals in the form of mortality and complication rates. HealthGrades rates hospitals independently based on data that hospitals submit to the federal government. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated.
For 26 procedures and treatments, HealthGrades issues star ratings that reflect the mortality and complication rates for each category of care. Hospitals receiving a five-star rating have mortality or complication rates that are below the national average, to a statistically significant degree. A three-star rating means the hospital performs as expected. One-star ratings indicate the hospital’s mortality or complication rates in that procedure or treatment are statistically higher than average. Because the risk profiles of patient populations at hospitals are not alike, HealthGrades risk-adjusts the data to allow for equal comparisons.
More information on today’s HealthGrades study, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com.