Orthopedic and General Surgery Services Cited in Ninth Annual HealthGrades Quality Study
Sierra Medical Center announced today it has been rated number one in the El Paso region for clinical excellence in overall orthopedic and general surgery services for the second year in a row, according to a comprehensive study released by HealthGrades, a leading independent healthcare ratings company. Additionally, the hospital ranks in the top five percent nationally for overall orthopedic services and is a recipient of HealthGrades Specialty Excellence Awards for Orthopedic Care and Joint Replacement, the only hospital in El Paso to receive these recognitions. Sierra Medical Center received HealthGrades’ top rating, five-stars, for total knee replacement, hip fracture repair, partial hip replacement, back and neck surgery without spinal fusion, and appendectomy surgery.
“It’s an honor to be ranked among the top hospitals in the country by an independent source such as HealthGrades,” said John Harris, President and CEO of Sierra Providence Health Network. “The award represents the dedication of our staff and physicians to our patients.”
As part of its ninth annual Hospital Quality in America Study, HealthGrades independently analyzed more than 5,000 hospitals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for its 2007 ratings, objectively assessing their clinical outcomes and quality. The 40 million hospitalization records utilized in the assessment are publicly available and licensed from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The HealthGrades ratings take into account varying degrees of patient severity from hospital to hospital and measure whether patient outcomes for each of more than two dozen procedures and diagnoses are better than expected (5-Star), as expected (3-Star) or worse than expected (1-Star).
“Consumers continue to ask for more and better information to help them in their health care decision making,” said Samantha Collier, M.D., HealthGrades’ vice president of medical affairs. “Our analysis provides an apples-to-apples comparison of hospital performance by procedure or diagnosis, and it is evident there is significant variance between individual hospitals. For Sierra Medical Center to rank among the nation’s best reflects the efforts of everybody in the organization, and should be very comforting to area residents.”
The 2007 HealthGrades ratings for all hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the organization’s award-winning consumer Web site, located at www.healthgrades.com. More than three million individuals and employees of 125 major employers and health plans visit HealthGrades each month to access quality information about hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. HealthGrades also provides consumers and payers with detailed assessments of hospitals’ patient-safety outcomes, based on indicators developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
ABOUT SIERRA PROVIDENCE HEALTH NETWORK
Sierra Providence Health Network, part of Tenet Texas, consists of three hospitals located in El Paso: 351-bed Sierra Medical Center, located at 1625 Medical Center Drive; 508-bed Providence Memorial Hospital, which also houses the 106-bed Children’s Hospital at Providence, located at 2001 N. Oregon; and a 78-bed physical rehabilitation hospital, Sierra Providence Physical Rehabilitation Hospital, located at 1740 Curie. The network is in the process of building a fourth hospital, Sierra Providence Eastside Hospital, a 100-bed acute care facility scheduled to open in 2008.
Sierra Medical Center, Providence Memorial Hospital and the Children’s Hospital at Providence are acute care hospitals that offer a broad spectrum of medical and surgical services for adults and children, including cardiac care and rehabilitation, cancer care and support services, women’s services and emergency care. Other network clinical specialties include a dedicated children’s emergency room, kidney transplant, gamma knife radiosurgery, a hospice, a bariatrics center and health care services for chronically ill children. Sierra Providence Physical Rehabilitation Hospital provides a broad spectrum of rehabilitation services and is equipped to handle brain injuries and other serious disorders and is accredited by both the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Sierra Medical Center and Providence Memorial Hospital are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency.
About HealthGrades
HealthGrades (Nasdaq:HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings company, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians to consumers, corporations, health plans and hospitals. Millions of consumers and hundreds of the nation’s largest employers, health plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades’ independent ratings to make healthcare decisions based on the quality of care. More information on the company can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.