EvergreenHealth Named Among Top 5% of Hospitals in Nation for Quality

KIRKLAND, Wash., Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- EvergreenHealth has achieved its sixth designation as a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence from Healthgrades®, placing the health care organization among the top 5 percent of hospitals of the more than 4,500 hospitals evaluated nationwide and based solely on its outstanding clinical performance.  

Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, releases this distinction annually for the nation's top hospitals based on their clinical outcomes in terms of risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complication rates. This year, EvergreenHealth is one of 261 hospitals nationwide to receive the prestigious award. EvergreenHealth demonstrated high quality care for inpatient conditions and procedures, as evaluated by Healthgrades. 

"While awards like these confirm our commitment to provide the highest quality care and patient experience, the motivation for our team is to ensure the safest, most satisfying care at the best value," said Bob Malte, CEO of EvergreenHealth. "We're honored to celebrate this clinical achievement award accomplished by the work of our dedicated and talented physicians, nurses, staff and volunteers."

EvergreenHealth strategic partner Virginia Mason was also recognized as a 2015 Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence by Healthgrades. 

EvergreenHealth received additional 2015 accolades from Healthgrades, including being named one of "America's 100 Best Hospitals" for pulmonary care, gastrointestinal care and general surgery, placing the organization among the top performing hospitals nationally for clinical excellence in each of those specialties.  For a complete list of 2015 Healthgrades recognition, click here.

From 2011 through 2013, Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 27.7% lower risk adjusted mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions where in-hospital mortality was the clinical outcome, compared to all other hospitals.  During this same period, if all other hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence across these 19 procedures and conditions, 163,488 lives could potentially have been saved. For example, patients treated at a hospital that achieved the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award had, on average, a 26.6% lower risk of dying from a stroke than if treated at a hospital that did not receive the award.

The 261 recipients of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ stand out among the rest for overall clinical excellence across a broad spectrum of care. During the 2015 study period (2011-2013), these hospitals showed superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients in the Medicare population across at least 21 of 32 of the most common inpatient conditions and procedures —as measured by objective clinical outcomes performance data (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications). To learn more about how Healthgrades determines Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ recipients, please visit www.healthgrades.com/quality.

Variation in hospital performance exists locally as well as nationally. For example, of the 15 hospitals evaluated located in the Seattle metropolitan area for treatment of heart attack, risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rates ranged from 5.5% on the low end to 12.2% on the high end, which is more than a 2-fold difference in mortality rates.

"Consumers today are assuming more and more responsibility for healthcare decisions and are increasingly relying on objective measures of quality to inform their selection of hospitals and physicians," said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades. "It is important for consumers to understand the variability in the nation's hospitals so that they can make more informed choices. By selecting a hospital that has achieved the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, consumers can be confident that this hospital has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to exceptional clinical quality care."

About Healthgrades
Healthgrades is the nation's most trusted source of physician information and hospital quality ratings. It evaluates each of the nation's 4,500 nonfederal hospitals in 30 procedures and diagnoses for the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence award. Mortality and complication rates are risk adjusted, which takes into account differing levels of severity of patient illness at different hospitals and allows for hospitals to be compared equally. This year's results are published in the American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2015: Healthgrades Report to the Nation.

According to the Healthgrades report, one among many distinctions of a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence is that these hospitals have an overall 26% lower risk-adjusted mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions. 

Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for over 4,500 hospitals across the nation in 36 procedures and conditions annually. Healthgrades.com provides information on objective measures of hospital performance, which allows consumers to compare their local hospitals online at www.healthgrades.com. Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for nearly every hospital in the nation; no hospital can opt-in or opt-out of being evaluated, and no hospital pays to be evaluated. Mortality and complication rates are risk adjusted, which takes into account differing levels of severity of patient illness at different hospitals and allows for hospitals to be compared equally. For more information about the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence recipients, please visit www.Healthgrades.com/quality or contact Jessica DeJong, PR & Communications Manager at [email protected] or 303.390.2583.

About EvergreenHealth
EvergreenHealth, a public hospital district and community-based health care organization established in 1972, offers a breadth of services and programs that is among the most comprehensive in the region. More than 950 physicians provide clinical excellence within more than 80 specialties, including cardiac, oncology, surgical care, orthopedics, a neuroscience institute, women's and children's services, hospice care, pulmonary care, a sleep disorders center and home care services. EvergreenHealth serves more than 400,000 residents in its primary service area of northern King and southern Snohomish counties with EvergreenHealth Primary Care, a network of primary and urgent care practices, and its main hospital campus in Kirkland, Wash. EvergreenHealth also provides emergency care at two sites: its main hospital campus and the EvergreenHealth Redmond Medical Center. In addition to clinical care, EvergreenHealth offers extensive community health outreach and education programs, anchored by EvergreenHealth Nurse Navigator & Healthline, a 24/7 nurse consultation service. For more information about EvergreenHealth, visit www.evergreenhealth.com or call the EvergreenHealth Nurse Navigator & Healthline at 425.899.3000. 

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kay Taylor
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
EvergreenHealth
425.899.2604
[email protected]

SOURCE EvergreenHealth

Related Links

http://www.evergreenhealth.com/

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