French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) is proud to announce it is the recipient of three distinct, prestigious and unsolicited awards. Two of the awards are attributed to cardiac care, while the other centers on orthopedic care. This week, the hospital received notice it is being recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 100 Hospitals in the United States for Cardiovascular Care. This is the second year in a row that FHMC has been honored with this award.
FHMC has also received a 5-Star rating for patient quality outcomes related to the treatment of heart attack from HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. This is the second consecutive year French Hospital has been recognized for excellent outcomes for heart attack patients making it the best rated in the San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles Region for cardiology and ranked among the top 15 % in the nation for the treatment of heart attack two years in a row.
HealthGrades has also named FHMC as the recipient of the HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award. Additionally FHMC is ranked among the Top 10% in the Nation for Joint Replacement, 5-Star rated for total hip replacement, 5-Star rated for joint replacement eight years in a row, and 5-Star rated for total hip replacement eight years in a row by HealthGrades.
“For a community hospital in a relatively small town to receive these three awards at one time is quite extraordinary. These are very prestigious awards, based on publicly reported statistics. These unsolicited awards are a testament to the commitment French Hospital and its physicians has made to improve the quality of healthcare provided to our community. We continue to push the bar to new levels to improve safety, and survival rates while continually focusing on high-quality, compassionate care. We are very proud to be the central coast’s choice for cardiac care. I wish to thank our physicians, staff and volunteers for their continued commitment to advancing French Hospital’s goal to provide the highest levels of care on the central coast,” says Alan Iftiniuk, FHMC President and CEO.
The Thomson Reuters award, 2009 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success, examined the performance of 970 hospitals by analyzing clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and angioplasties. Thomson Reuters researchers analyzed 2006 and 2007 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2007 Medicare cost reports, and data from other sources. They scored hospitals in key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures score, percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage- and severity-adjusted average cost. To learn more about this award, its criteria and to see a list of all Top 100 hospitals, go to www.100tophospitals.com.
The HealthGrades study, the largest annual report of its kind, analyzed patient outcomes in nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 5,000 hospitals over the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. HealthGrades’ hospital ratings and awards reflect the track record of patient outcomes at hospitals in the form of mortality and complication rates. HealthGrades rates hospitals independently based on data that hospitals submit to the federal government. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated.
For 28 procedures and treatments, HealthGrades issues star ratings that reflect the mortality and complication rates for each category of care. Hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have mortality or complication rates that are below the national average, to a statistically significant degree. To learn more about the 2010 HealthGrades ratings go to www.healthgrades.com.
For more information contact Megan Maloney at 805.542.6498 or e-mail
Megan.Maloney@chw.edu.
