DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, is pleased to announce the 381 hospitals across the nation that have achieved the 2014 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™. The distinction places this elite group of hospitals within the top 10% of all hospitals evaluated for their excellent performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays.
In its related report, entitled “Finding and Preventing Patient Safety Incidents,” Healthgrades explores the ways U.S. hospitals successfully find ways to not only reduce their events, but to outperform expectations in prevention of safety incidents. From 2010 through 2012, there were 266,813 serious potentially preventable patient safety events among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals. In addition, during this same time period, if all hospitals had performed at the same level as Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients, Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals may have stayed as many as 352,754 fewer days in the hospital by avoiding potentially preventable patient safety events.
“Hospitals have made tremendous progress in improving patient safety, yet our new report concludes that there is still room for improvement. We commend the 2014 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients for not only finding ways to reduce patient safety events, but to outperform expectations in prevention of safety incidents,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades.
When compared to hospitals performing worse than expected for patient safety, Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipients had three patient safety indicators showing the largest difference in observed-to-expected ratios. On average, patients treated in Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals were:
- 73% less likely to experience Pressure Sores or Bed Sores Acquired in the Hospital compared to hospitals performing worse than expected in aggregate across the patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades*
- 72% less likely to experience Hip Fracture following surgery compared to hospitals performing worse than expected in aggregate across the patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades*
- 67% less likely to experience a Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infection Acquired in the Hospital compared to hospitals performing worse than expected in aggregate across the patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades*.
To be eligible for the Healthgrades award, hospitals had to meet clinical quality thresholds, have zero occurrences of PSI Foreign Object Left During Surgery or Procedure, and have data on at least seven out of eight core PSIs. Information on the award recipients and access to the complete rating methodology is available at www.healthgrades.com/quality.
About Healthgrades
Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Today, nearly one million people a day use the Healthgrades websites to search, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals that best meet their treatment needs. Consumers are empowered through use of the Healthgrades proprietary information about clinical outcomes, satisfaction, safety, and health conditions to make more informed healthcare decisions and take action. For more information about the Healthgrades report and to make informed decisions about hospitals and physicians in your area, visit www.healthgrades.com or download the Healthgrades iPhone app.
*Statistics are based on Healthgrades application of QI Windows® Software (version 4.4), developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), to MedPAR data for years 2010 through 2012 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.
