San Jacinto Methodist Hospital is Among Top 5 Percent of Hospitals in Nation — 5 Years in Row

San Jacinto Methodist Hospital recently announced that HealthGrades®, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, has named it a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence™. This prestigious distinction places San Jacinto Methodist Hospital among the top 5% of hospitals nationwide for clinical performance.

HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study, released today, objectively identifies those hospitals with the best overall clinical performance across 26 medical diagnoses and procedures that the organization rates. These 263 top-performing hospitals represent only 5% of the nation’s hospitals and each is designated as a HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence™.

“San Jacinto Methodist Hospital can be proud of the contributions of its physicians, nurses and staff in achieving outstanding patient care,” said Kristin Reed, MPH, HealthGrades vice president of hospital ratings and author of the study. “The Houston-Baytown community is fortunate to have access to some of the highest quality hospital care in the nation.”

“Receiving this distinction for the fifth consecutive year is quite an accomplish¬ment for the entire health care team at San Jacinto Methodist Hospital,” says Donna Gares, CEO and President of San Jacinto Methodist Hospital. “We consider it an honor and privilege to be a recipient of the Distinguished Hospi¬tal for Clinical Excellence Award from HealthGrades. This award affirms the commitment of our medical staff and employees who work diligently to provide our patients and community with the highest quality care.”

In addition to the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award™, San Jacinto Methodist Hospital has also received the following recognitions from HealthGrades:

• Top 5% in the nation for Critical Care
• Top 10% in the nation for Stroke Care

The following are the Five-Star rated procedures and diagnoses for San Jacinto Methodist Hospital. To earn a five-star rating, the clinical outcomes are better than expected:

Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications. HealthGrades analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare discharges for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Using these top-performing hospitals as a benchmark in this year’s HealthGrades study, HealthGrades quantifies the impact of differences in hospital quality in terms of lives lost and unexpected complications.

The HealthGrades study found that:

• Distinguished Hospitals can be found in 38 states. The top cities for hospital quality, determined by having the highest percentage of Distinguished Hospitals in a Designated Market Area (DMA), are found in 26 states.
• Specifically, Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence had a 30.07% lower risk-adjusted mortality rate and a 1.86% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital complication rate among Medicare beneficiaries compared to all other hospitals.
• In fact, if all hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, 165,704 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved and 6,800 Medicare in-hospital complications could potentially have been avoided.

Since San Jacinto Methodist Hospital opened its doors in April 1948, it has provided the community with quality medical care. Through the years, the hospital has grown with the community, enhancing and expanding services every step of the way. Today, San Jacinto Methodist Hospital offers comprehensive care for patients at every stage of life. For more information about San Jacinto Methodist’s health care services, please call 832-556-6543.

Caption:San Jacinto Methodist Hospital Board of Trustees, medical staff, and senior leadership proudly display the 2012 HealthGrades Award.