Thomas P. Timcho, president and CEO, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, announced today that the Medical Center has received a top five-star rating for the quality of its valve replacement surgery and treatment of heart failure by HealthGrades, a top healthcare ratings company.
“This award is one of many accolades earned by the heart program at Jefferson Regional Medical Center,” said Timcho. “Only a few weeks ago, Jefferson Regional was recognized in a report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) for a mortality rate in open heart surgery that is considered the best in the state.
“For a young program that is only six years old, Jefferson Regional’s heart program is very competitive in the region and its volumes continue to grow. The medical staff is comprised of board-certified surgeons and cardiologists who are known for their success in performing complex cases and minimally invasive procedures on the heart and cardiovascular system.”
The findings for the latest HealthGrades award were included in the 11th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, which analyzed more than 41 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2005 to 2007 at the nation’s approximately 5,000 non-federal hospitals. Also according to the study, patients treated at the nation’s top-rated hospitals have a 70 percent lower chance of dying compared with the lowest-rated hospitals across 17 common procedures and conditions, ranging from heart attack and pneumonia care to respiratory failure.
While overall death rates declined from 2005 to 2007, the nation’s best-performing hospitals were able to reduce preventable deaths at a much faster rate than poor-performing hospitals, resulting in large state, regional and hospital-to-hospital variations in the quality of patient care, the study found.
Based on the study, HealthGrades today made available its 2009 quality ratings for virtually every hospital in the country at www.healthgrades.com, a Web site designed to help individuals research and compare local healthcare providers.
On its Web site, HealthGrades offers, free to consumers, quality ratings of 27 procedures and treatments for virtually every hospital in the country. The Web site is designed so that consumers can easily compare patient outcomes at their local hospitals for procedures ranging from aortic aneurysm repair to bypass surgery. Each hospital receives a star rating based on its patient outcomes in terms of mortality or complication rates for each procedure or treatment. Hospitals with outcomes that are above average to a statistically significant degree receive a five-star rating. Hospitals with average outcomes receive a three-star rating, and hospitals with outcomes that are below average receive a one-star rating. Because no two hospitals or their patients’ risk profiles are alike, HealthGrades employs extensive risk-adjustment algorithms to ensure that it is making analogous comparisons.
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