Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center named Top 100 Hospital

Honored for quality, care, performance; only award winner in metro Phoenix area

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center is the only hospital in the Greater Phoenix area to earn the 2009 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks Award, which recognizes facilities that deliver high-quality, efficient care.

The award compared nearly 3,000 hospitals against their national peers. The Top 100 winners were selected based on publicly available data on patient outcomes, patient safety, patient satisfaction, efficiency, financial stability and other measures of hospital performance.

According to Thomson Reuters, having a 100 Top Hospitals award winner in the community means that:

• Patients are measurably less likely to have a complication or adverse patient safety event, or be readmitted to the hospital.
• Patients are more likely to receive care efficiently at a reasonable comparative cost.
• The community can rely on the hospital as a well-managed major employer that will continue to invest in newer technology and services the community needs.

"It's very difficult to win this award. It takes a commitment to our patients, community and teamwork at all levels, from the leading local citizens on our board to our management, doctors, nurses and other staff members," said Scottsdale Healthcare Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer Peggy Reiley, who is administrator of the nonprofit community-based Shea Medical Center.

Located at 9003 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center received the award in the large community hospital category. It is a previous Top 100 award winner in the Performance Improvement Leaders category.

Scottsdale Healthcare Shea is a Magnet hospital, a designation awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to only elite hospitals in the top 5% for quality nursing care. Both the Shea Medical Center and Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center are Magnet hospitals.

Scottsdale Healthcare Shea is known for its cardiovascular, cancer, orthopedics, bariatrics, women's and children's, and other clinical services. It is a Certified Chest Pain Center and Cardiac Arrest Center, as well as a bariatric surgery center of excellence as designated by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

The Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare also is located on the Shea Medical Center campus. The cancer center offers groundbreaking cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and support services, attracting patients from across Arizona and the U.S.

Thomson Reuters is a leading quality and performance improvement analytic firm. The award will be officially presented during the 100 Top Hospitals Summit in June. Only two other Arizona hospitals received the award, University Medical Center in Tucson in the major teaching hospitals category and Payson Regional Medical Center in the small community hospitals category. More information on award criteria can be found at www.100tophospitals.com.

Scottsdale Healthcare is the not-for-profit parent organization of Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Research Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Community Health Services, NOAH Clinics, Scottsdale Healthcare Home Health Services and Scottsdale Healthcare Foundation. For more information, visit www.shc.org.

SOURCE Scottsdale Healthcare