Seventh Annual HealthGrades Maternity Care in Hospitals Study ranks Good Samaritan in top 5%

Good Samaritan Hospital's maternity care is in the top 5 percent in the nation for the third year in a row according to a new study issued today by HealthGrades, Inc., the independent ratings organization. The Seventh Annual HealthGrades Maternity Care in Hospitals Study used state-government data to compare hospitals in terms of complication rates for vaginal and C-section deliveries as well as neonatal mortality. As a result, Good Samaritan Hospital received the 2010/2011 HealthGrades Maternity Care Excellence Award™. Good Samaritan Hospital delivers over 400 babies a month and is the only hospital in Los Angeles to be ranked in the top 5 percent this year.

Good Sam also received 5 Star ratings in Maternity Care for the past 4 consecutive years and has been a recipient of the HealthGrades Maternity Care Excellence Award for 4 years in a row.

Earlier this year Good Samaritan was named a recipient of HealthGrades America's 50 Best Hospitals for the 4^th consecutive year, further demonstrating its commitment to quality improvement and its sustained outstanding clinical outcomes. These 50 hospitals represent the top 1 percent of all hospitals in the nation for clinical excellence.

As a group, top-rated hospitals including Good Samaritan Hospital had 51 percent fewer maternal complications for vaginal deliveries and 74 percent fewer maternal complications for C-sections when compared with the poorest-rated hospitals.

The study examined all hospitals in the 19 states that collect and publish outcomes data from hospitals, 1,546 in all. The study found that if all hospitals, among the 19 states studied, performed at the level of best-performing hospitals, 176,654 women may have avoided developing one or more inhospital major obstetric complications during the period studied (2006 - 2008).

For this analysis by HealthGrades, hospitals were evaluated using the following criteria:

• Maternal complication rate among women undergoing single live-born vaginal or C-section deliveries
• Maternal complication rate among women undergoing "patient-choice" or non-clinically indicated C-sections
• Newborn volume adjusted for low birth weight
• Newborn mortality rate stratified into eight birth weight categories

The complete methodology for the HealthGrades Maternity Care study can be found at www.healthgrades.com.