DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, today announced recipients of the Healthgrades 2017 Outstanding Patient Experience Award and the Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award.
Healthgrades 2017 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™
In 2017, 443 hospitals received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, representing the top 15% of hospitals in the nation for patient experience.
Healthgrades analyzed Patient Experience Surveys over an eight-year period to identify questions most closely associated with a top overall rating of 9 or 10 and a response of “Yes, I would recommend this hospital.” The response that had the highest correlation to both ratings was “nurses always communicate well.” Read more about the Healthgrades analysis.
“More than ever before, consumers have access to transparent information to assess care quality before making important healthcare decisions,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “It’s not surprising that consumers are more satisfied with hospitals that prioritize communication between patients and staff. It is a very important aspect of the provider-patient relationship and hospitals that invest in creating a highly communicative culture appeal to consumers.”
Healthgrades evaluated 3,489 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), covering admissions from April 2015 – March 2016 in order to identify hospital performance in this area.
Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award™
In 2017, there were 460 hospitals across the nation that achieved the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award. On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided* if all hospitals performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.
This distinction places an elite group of hospital recipients within the top 10% of all hospitals evaluated for their superior performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays. Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients were determined by evaluating the occurrence of observed incidents and expected performance for 13 Patient Safety Indicators as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
According to the Healthgrades analysis outlined in a related infographic, hospitals that received an award in patient safety were always equally or more likely than non-recipient hospitals to exhibit superior outcomes in specialty areas (including joint replacement, orthopedics, spinal surgery, cardiology and pulmonary care), and often more likely to achieve a 5-star rating in in-hospital mortality and complication outcomes, as compared to non-recipient hospitals.
"The Healthgrades research reveals hospitals that prioritize patient safety are also more likely to achieve high quality outcomes for their patients,” said Dr. Bowman. “What does this mean to the average healthcare consumer? That they should put hospitals with high marks in patient safety at the top of their list for care. Healthgrades provides this information because it is a critical piece for evaluating care options and can help instill confidence in consumers determining where to turn to.”
Access a complete list of the award recipients.
View Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies.
Contact Healthgrades if you are an award recipient for tips on sharing your achievement with consumers.
*Statistics are based on Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which includes application of AHRQ QI software to MedPAR data for years 2013 through 2015 and represent three year estimates for Medicare patients only.
About Healthgrades
Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Today, more than one million people a day use the Healthgrades website to search, compare and connect with hospitals and physicians based on the most important measures when selecting a healthcare provider: experience, hospital quality and patient satisfaction. For more information about Healthgrades, visit http://www.healthgrades.com or download the Healthgrades iPhone app.
