MedStar St. Mary’s Ranks in Top 5% for Patient Safety

Posted by MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital
Leading Edge

MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital is a recipient of the 2012 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award, indicating that its patient safety ratings are in the top 5% of U.S. hospitals. In a new study released today by HealthGrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make an informed decision about a physician or hospital, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital is one of only 263 hospitals in the country to receive this designation and one in five in the state of Maryland.

The study finds that Medicare patients at Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals were almost 48 percent less likely to experience one of 13 preventable safety events compared to hospitals in the bottom 5 percent in the nation. If all hospitals performed at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital’s level of distinction, approximately 254,000 patient safety events and 56,367 deaths among Medicare patients could have been avoided.

“From improving communication to implementing protocols to make surgery safer, hospitals across the country are working harder to reduce preventable patient safety events. The results of these efforts are clear among this year’s HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals.” said Kristin Reed, MPH, vice president of hospital quality programs at HealthGrades and author of the study. “Hospitals like MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital are not only setting the bar for high standards of patient safety but also serving as an example for other hospitals.”

To identify the 2012 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients, HealthGrades analyzed approximately 40 million hospitalization records from 5,000 hospitals nationwide that participate in the Medicare program. Participation in the HealthGrades study is not voluntary, and hospitals cannot choose to opt out of the analysis.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from HealthGrades,” said Dr. Stephen Michaels, vice president for medical affairs at MedStar St. Mary’s. “Our associates and physicians make patient safety the top priority. More than 15 years ago, we created a Patient Safety Council that is comprised of frontline staff who deliver direct patient care. These individuals provide real time ideas and solutions as we refine best practices,” Michaels added. “The hospital is also committed to embracing a ‘just culture’ and encourages free and open communication in reporting errors and patient safety issues.”

HealthGrades uses Medicare inpatient data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) database and Patient Safety Indicator software from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to calculate event rates for 13 indicators of patient safety for all of the nation’s hospitals. All analysis was based on data from 2008 to 2010. These indicators identify the best-performing hospitals, which represent the top 5 percent of all U.S. hospitals and are this year’s HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients. HealthGrades developed this award to give patients more information about choosing a hospital.

HealthGrades analyzes the following patient safety events for this study:

• Death in procedures where mortality is usually very low
• Pressure or bed sores acquired in hospital
• Death following a serious complication after surgery
• Foreign object left in body during a procedure
• Collapsed lung due to procedure or surgery in or around chest
• Catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at hospital
• Hip fracture following surgery
• Hemorrhage or hematoma resulting from procedure or surgery
• Electrolyte and fluid imbalance following surgery
• Respiratory failure following surgery
• Deep blood clots in lungs or legs following surgery
• Sepsis following surgery
• Breakdown of abdominal incision site

More information on HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award and the ratings methodology is available at HealthGrades.com.