WASHINGTON (October 15, 2007) -- According to the Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study issued today, The Washington Hospital ranks among the top five percent for cardiac surgery and top ten percent for overall orthopedic services and joint replacement. The study, the largest of its kind, analyzed patient outcomes at virtually all of the nation's 5,000 hospitals over the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.

“We are honored to receive these distinctions from HealthGrades. Our patients, physicians, staff and community now have further evidence that The Washington Hospital’s clinical quality is at an exceptional level compared to hospitals nationwide,” said Telford W. Thomas, president and CEO of The Washington Hospital. “Our commitment includes a focus on improving medication safety, infection rates, and patient satisfaction, which is testament to the achievements being recognized by HealthGrades.”
 

The study also found that The Washington Hospital is:

·        Recipient of the HealthGrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™

·        Recipient of the HealthGrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award™

·        Recipient of the HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award™

·        Ranked Among the Top 5 (#3) in PA for Cardiac Surgery

·        Five-Star Rated for Valve Replacement Surgery

·        Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation

·        Received the Highest Possible Star Ratings for Coronary Bypass Surgery

·        Ranked Among the Top 3 in PA for Overall Orthopedic Services

·        Ranked Among the Top 10 in PA for Joint Replacement

·        Five-Star Rated for Total Knee Replacement

·        Five-Star Rated for Total Hip Replacement

·        Five-Star Rated for Hip Fracture Repair

“The Washington Hospital takes great pride in the quality of care we provide, and we constantly strive to improve the quality of care for our patients,” said Thomas. “Some of our current efforts include the implementation of a medication bar coding system to reduce medication errors and working with other hospitals in Pennsylvania and across the nation to help identify, control and minimize the risk to patients of hospital-acquired infections.”

“Our research shows that while the overall quality of hospital care in America is improving, the gap between the best-performing hospitals and the worst persists,” said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades’ chief medical officer and author of the study. “This persistent gap makes it imperative that anyone planning to be admitted to a hospital do their homework and seek out highly rated facilities.”

The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study identifies key trends in the quality of care provided by approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide. HealthGrades researchers analyzed Medicare discharges from virtually every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006. Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates were calculated and hospitals were assigned a 1-star (poor), 3-star (as expected), or 5-star (best) quality rating for 28 diagnoses and procedures from heart failure to hip replacement to pneumonia.

Among the study’s key findings: 

• Pennsylvania is one of the top five states nationwide with the highest percentage of best-performing hospitals in cardiac surgery. 

• Gaps persist between the “best” and the “worst” hospitals across all procedures and conditions studied. Five-star rated hospitals, such as Washington Hospital had statistically significantly lower risk-adjusted mortality across all three years studied.

• Across all procedures and conditions studied, there was an approximate 71 percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to a 1-star rated hospital.

• Across all procedures and conditions studied, there was an approximate 52 percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to the U.S. hospital average.

The 2008 HealthGrades ratings for all hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the organization’s award-winning consumer Web site, located at www.healthgrades.com.  More than three million individuals and employees of some of the nation’s largest employers and health plans visit HealthGrades each month to access quality information about hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. HealthGrades also provides consumers and payers with detailed assessments of hospitals’ patient-safety outcomes, based on indicators developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.