Franciscan St. Margaret Health – Dyer today announced that it has received 5 stars for the quality of its Heart Failure care from Healthgrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make an informed decision about a physician or hospital. This recognition is part of new findings released today in American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2013: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, which evaluates the performance of approximately 4,500 hospitals nationwide across nearly 30 procedures and conditions.
A 5-star quality measurement indicates that Franciscan St. Margaret Health – Dyer’s clinical performance is better than expected.
Healthgrades also released today new research conducted by Harris Interactive that underscores the importance of educating consumers on the importance of clinical outcomes. According to the research, consumers said a hospital’s location is virtually as important to them as its mortality rate, at 83% and 87% important/very important, respectively. Healthgrades bases its objective hospital quality measures solely on clinical performance and updates them annually, free to the public. The 2013 performance outcomes are now available at www.healthgrades.com.
Other notable Healthgrades recognitions include:
Cardiac
- Ranked #9 in IN for Cardiology Services in 2013
- Ranked Among the Top 10 in IN for Cardiology Services in 2013 (Ranked 9 in 2013)
- Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure for 7 Years in a Row (2007-2013)
Orthopedic
- Ranked #8 in IN for Overall Orthopedic Services in 2013
- Ranked #6 in IN for Spine Surgery in 2013
- Ranked Among the Top 10 in IN for Overall Orthopedic Services in 2013 (Ranked 8 in 2013)
- Ranked Among the Top 10 in IN for Spine Surgery for 3 Years in a Row (2011-2013) (Ranked 6 in 2013)
- Five-Star Recipient for Overall Orthopedic Services in 2013
- Five-Star Recipient for Spine Surgery for 3 Years in a Row (2011-2013)
- Five-Star Recipient for Hip Fracture Treatment in 2013
- Five-Star Recipient for Back and Neck Surgery (except Spinal Fusion) for 3 Years in a Row (2011-2013)
Neurosciences
- Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Stroke in 2013
Gastrointestinal
- Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of GI Bleed for 4 Years in a Row (2010-2013)
“The credit for this recognition goes to our physicians and employees, who, each and every day, work so hard to provide excellent care to the patients we are privileged to serve. Franciscan St. Margaret Health accepts this recognition on their behalf,” said Tom Gryzbek, hospital president.
For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare hospitalization records for services performed from 2009 through 2011 at approximately 4,500 short-term, acute care hospitals nationwide. Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving 5 stars had, on average, 75% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals receiving 1 star (across 18 common procedures and diagnoses, such as heart bypass surgery, stroke, and pneumonia).
In this year’s report, Healthgrades also analyzed findings over its last five study periods (2005-2011) to provide an overview of trends in hospital quality over a longer period. Among its key findings, Healthgrades found that the nation’s average in-hospital risk-adjusted mortality rate improved 22% for procedures and conditions studied by Healthgrades over the last seven years.
Congestive heart failure care has been addressed with scrupulous attention to evidence based care standards reinforced for both compliance and documentation via repeated interaction with attending and consulting physicians. In addition, telehealth technologies have been introduced to improve in-home monitoring after discharge. Innovation continues with the initiation of a “transitions” service, which delivers extended in-home follow up care post-discharge to high risk patients. Stroke care has been brought up to the standards so as to qualify Franciscan St. Margaret as a Certified Stroke Center, with full resources for evaluation and immediate brain-saving interventions. Orthopedic care is supported by on-site rehabilitation service from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. GI care is maintained at high levels of competence produced through high volume of GI service.
Healthgrades independently measures hospitals based on data that hospitals submit to the federal government. No hospital can opt in or out of being measured, and no hospital pays to be measured. Healthgrades risk adjusts for patient demographic characteristics and clinical risk factors, thereby taking into account how sick patients are upon hospital admission.
More information on the American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2013: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.
