Healthgrades,
the leading online resource for information about physicians and
hospitals, today announced the recipients of the annual Healthgrades
2019 Patient Safety Excellence and Outstanding Patient Experience
Awards. These awards, which were released in conjunction with the
American Hospital Association’s National
Hospital Week (May 12-18), recognize the hospitals around the
country that make patient safety a top priority and provide an
outstanding patient experience.
Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award™
In 2019, 460 hospitals across the nation achieved the Healthgrades
Patient Safety Excellence Award, placing them among the top 10 percent
of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data. On
average, 127,667 patient safety events could have been avoided if all
hospitals performed similarly to award recipients on each of the 14
patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades*.
During the study period (2015-2017), Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety
Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance
in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured
by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for
14 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ). As part of the assessment, Healthgrades
also reviews the ‘Retained Foreign Object’ indicator; this adverse
outcome is considered a “never” event and hospitals that report even one
of these events are ineligible for the award.
Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the
Patient Safety Excellence Award were, as compared to patients at
non-recipients hospitals, on average*:
-
55.9% less likely to experience an accidental cut, puncture,
perforation or hemorrhage during medical care. -
50.9% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or
surgery in or around the chest. -
64.4% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired
in the hospital. -
57% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections
acquired at the hospital.
“Consumers are becoming more involved in their own health care and are
spending more time researching and selecting the right provider and
hospital for their specific needs. Healthgrades’ Patient Safety
Excellence Award & Outstanding Patient Experience Award
highlight the hospitals that are making patient safety and experience a
priority and will help patients feel confident to make more informed
decisions about their health care,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical
Officer, Healthgrades.
Healthgrades 2019 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™
In 2019, 434 hospitals received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient
Experience Award, representing the top 15 percent of hospitals in the
nation for patient experience. As part of the analysis, Healthgrades
evaluated 3,449 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience
surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),
covering admissions from January 2017 through December 2017 to identify
hospital performance in this area.
Healthgrades evaluated hospital performance by applying a scoring
methodology to 9 patient experience measures, using data collected from
a 32-question patient experience survey of the hospital’s own patients.
The survey questions focus on patients’ perspectives of their care in
the hospital, ranging from cleanliness and noise levels in patient rooms
to factors such as provider communication. The measures also include
whether a patient would recommend the hospital to friends or family.
Access a complete list of the award
recipients.
View Healthgrades hospital
quality methodologies.
Learn more about how
hospitals partner with Healthgrades.
*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and
Excellence Award methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical
specifications (Version 5e and 2018) to MedPAR data for years 2015
through 2017 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.
About Healthgrades
Healthgrades is dedicated to empowering stronger and more meaningful
connections between patients and their healthcare providers. At www.healthgrades.com,
we help millions of consumers each month find and schedule appointments
with their provider of choice. With our scheduling solutions and
advanced analytics applications, we help our health system clients
representing over 1,500 hospitals across the country to cultivate new
patient relationships, improve patient access, and build customer
loyalty. At Healthgrades, better health gets a head start.
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