| St. Francis Health Center Among Top 5 Percent in Nation According to Quality Study |
 |
 |
 |
|
News Release Contact: Kim GronnigerAdministrative Director of Marketing and CommunicationsSt. Francis Health Center;
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
HealthGrades Media ContactScott Shapiro St. Francis Health Center Among Top 5 Percent in Nation According to Quality StudyRecognized for outstanding clinical performance by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings company (Feb. 3, 2009) – St. Francis Health Center has achieved HealthGrades’ 2009 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM based on its clinical quality performance. Mary Sweet, a HealthGrades representative, will present Mike Schrader, St. Francis president and chief executive officer, with the award at a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 10:30 a.m. in the St. Francis Auditorium. According to the HealthGrades study, patients admitted to a hospital receiving this award are, on average, 27 percent less likely to die and 8 percent less likely to suffer from a major complication. This year, only 270 of the nation’s nearly 5,000 non-federal hospitals will receive this distinction. The HealthGrades study also found that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence are improving their patient outcomes at a greater rate in more procedures and diagnoses than all other hospitals, lowering risk-adjusted mortality rates during the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 by an average of 18 percent. “At St. Francis, we have a skillful and dedicated team of physicians, clinicians and employees,” said Schrader. “It is because of their hard work and commitment that our patients and their families in northeast Kansas receive high-quality health care that is among the best in the nation.” “The hospitals that have been designated as Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence™ have, across the board, been leaders in their commitment to delivering the highest quality patient care. Consumers can choose where they receive their health care and our study again highlights the tremendous disparity in quality between hospitals,” said Rick May, MD, HealthGrades senior physician consultant. Additionally, St. Francis ranked in the top five in Kansas for overall cardiac services, cardiology services, overall critical care, gastroenterology medical treatment, overall orthopedic services and spine surgery. St. Francis also received five-star ratings for heart attack treatment for both 2008 and 2009; sepsis treatment; total hip replacement and hip fracture repair; stroke; and pneumonia treatment for 2009. St. Francis also received the HealthGrades Stroke Care Excellence Award, ranking in the top 5 percent in the nation for stroke treatment. This is the seventh year that HealthGrades has independently analyzed the clinical quality performance of all non-federal hospitals across the country in 26 procedures and diagnoses. In the Distinguished Hospital Study, the company reviewed nearly 41 million hospitalization records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, during the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. All hospitals that participate in the Medicare program were part of the independent study. Hospitals that receive the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM are those hospitals that rank in the top 5 percent when all 26 individual scores are aggregated into an overall score. A nonprofit Catholic health care provider in the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, St. Francis Health Center embodies a diverse and caring community dedicated to improving the health and welfare of others. St. Francis employees have provided innovative, inspired service for nearly a century to care for thousands of patients and their families with the same spirit and resolve demonstrated by the resourceful sisters who opened the facility on Oct. 17, 1909. Today the Health Center has 378 licensed beds, a medical staff representing nearly all specialties, adult and youth volunteers and a thriving auxiliary. Skillfully integrating technology with tenderness, St. Francis and its employees have fostered a premier regional hospital featuring the newest medical innovations and state-of-the-art equipment.
|
