St. Mary’s General Hospital announced today that it is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2020 Patient Safety Excellence AwardTM. This distinction places St. Mary’s General Hospital among the top 5% of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems.
St. Mary’s General Hospital is a member of Prime Healthcare, which operates 45 hospitals in 14 states. Prime Healthcare has more Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients for five consecutive years (2016-2020) than any other health system in the country, according to Healthgrades.
“Consumers might not know that information around patient safety is readily available and should be considered when researching healthcare options,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “We commend the recipients of the 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award for their dedication to providing excellent care for their patients.”
“This award is yet another sign of how seriously we take safety in general, but especially so during the COVID pandemic,” says Edward J. Condit, President and CEO of St. Mary’s General Hospital. Because of our strict adherence to safety and infection control guidelines, St. Mary’s General Hospital is open and ready to take care of patients from the most urgent cases to elective procedures.”
During the study period (2016 through 2018), Healthgrades 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safeguarding patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes—risk-adjusted patient safety indicator (PSI) rates—for 13 PSIs defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). A 14th PSI included in the evaluation is Foreign Objects Left in Body During a Surgery or Procedure which is a “never” event and does not have an expected rate.
Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average*:
- 48.3% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 54.4% less likely to experience a hip fracture following surgery, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 66.8% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 63% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital, than patients treated at non- recipient hospitals.