HOUSTON, Feb. 24, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital, Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital have collectively been named an America's 50 Best Hospital for 2010 in a report issued by HealthGrades®, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization.
The report, which analyzes objective patient outcomes at all 5,000 of the nation's non-federal hospitals, places Memorial Hermann in the top 1 percent of all hospitals in the nation.
Memorial Hermann is the only hospital in Houston to receive this designation.
According to the report, there is a wide variation in quality when comparing the Medicare patient outcomes of Memorial Hermann and the rest of the HealthGrades America's 50 Best Hospitals against all others. Patients admitted to America's 50 Best Hospitals are, on average, 27 percent less likely to die and 8 percent less likely to suffer from a major complication when compared with patients admitted to other hospitals. If all hospitals operated at the same level as the 50 Best, nearly 165,000 deaths and 19,000 in-hospital complications could have potentially been prevented.
"Being among America's top 50 hospitals validates the efforts and commitment of these facilities and their medical staffs to deliver extraordinary patient care," said Dan Wolterman, Memorial Hermann president and CEO. "These facilities experience lower patient mortality and incidence of complications when compared to other hospitals and that translates into thousands of lives saved each year."
To determine HealthGrades America's 50 Best Hospitals, HealthGrades analyzed more than 130 million Medicare hospitalization records from every non-federal hospital in the nation. Hospitals must meet minimum thresholds in terms of patient volumes, quality ratings, and the range of services provided. Specifically, hospitals were evaluated based on the risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates across 26 procedures and treatments, from hip replacement to bypass surgery. Hospitals that were in the top 5 percent of all hospitals for the most consecutive years were named HealthGrades America's 50 Best Hospitals. The full methodology can be found in the report posted at http://www.healthgrades.com.
"The HealthGrades America's 50 Best Hospitals have demonstrated clinical outcomes that are the best in the nation, and they have sustained that level of quality year in and year out," said Rick May, MD, a HealthGrades' vice president and one of the study's authors. "That indicates that these hospitals have leadership, operational structures and clinical teams that are capable of producing excellence in a way that others cannot. These hospitals should be congratulated, and those in their community should feel proud of the quality of care being delivered."
Memorial Hermann has been recognized as a national leader for its commitment to quality and patient safety. The hospital system was the recipient of the 2009 National Quality Healthcare Award from the National Quality Forum (NQF) for achieving meaningful, sustainable quality improvement in healthcare. Additionally, Memorial Hermann was the inaugural winner of the VHA National Health System Patient Safety Leadership Award last year.
For more information on Memorial Hermann, visit www.memorialhermann.org or call 713.222.CARE (2273).
About Memorial Hermann
An integrated health system, Memorial Hermann is known for world-class clinical expertise, patient-centered care, leading-edge technology and innovation. The system, with its exceptional medical staff and 20,000 employees, serves southeast Texas and the greater Houston community. Memorial Hermann's 11 hospitals include three hospitals in the Texas Medical Center, including a Level I trauma center, a hospital for children and a rehabilitation hospital, as well as three heart & vascular institute locations and eight suburban hospitals. The system also operates the Life Flight® air ambulance service, cancer, imaging and surgery centers, sports medicine and rehabilitation centers, outpatient laboratories, a wellness center, a chemical dependency treatment center, a home health agency, a retirement community and a nursing home. To learn more, visit http://www.memorialhermann.org/">www.memorialhermann.org or call 713.222.CARE.
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