EvergreenHealth recognized as Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence

EvergreenHealth has achieved its sixth designation as a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence from Healthgrades®, placing the health care organization among the top 5 percent of hospitals of the more than 4,500 hospitals evaluated nationwide and based solely on its outstanding clinical performance.

Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, releases this distinction annually for the nation's top hospitals based on their clinical outcomes in terms of risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complication rates. This year, EvergreenHealth is one of 261 hospitals nationwide to receive the prestigious award. EvergreenHealth demonstrated high quality care for inpatient conditions and procedures, as evaluated by Healthgrades.

"While awards like these confirm our commitment to provide the highest quality care and patient experience, the motivation for our team is to ensure the safest, most satisfying care at the best value," said Bob Malte, CEO of EvergreenHealth. "We're honored to celebrate this clinical achievement award accomplished by the work of our dedicated and talented physicians, nurses, staff and volunteers."

EvergreenHealth strategic partner Virginia Mason was also recognized as a 2015 Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence by Healthgrades.

EvergreenHealth received additional 2015 accolades from Healthgrades, including being named one of "America's 100 Best Hospitals" for pulmonary care, gastrointestinal care and general surgery, placing the organization among the top performing hospitals nationally for clinical excellence in each of those specialties. For a complete list of 2015 Healthgrades recognition, click here.

From 2011 through 2013, Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 27.7% lower risk adjusted mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions where in-hospital mortality was the clinical outcome, compared to all other hospitals. During this same period, if all other hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence across these 19 procedures and conditions, 163,488 lives could potentially have been saved. For example, patients treated at a hospital that achieved the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award had, on average, a 26.6% lower risk of dying from a stroke than if treated at a hospital that did not receive the award.

The 261 recipients of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ stand out among the rest for overall clinical excellence across a broad spectrum of care. During the 2015 study period (2011-2013), these hospitals showed superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients in the Medicare population across at least 21 of 32 of the most common inpatient conditions and procedures —as measured by objective clinical outcomes performance data (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications). To learn more about how Healthgrades determines Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ recipients, please visit www.healthgrades.com/quality.

Variation in hospital performance exists locally as well as nationally. For example, of the 15 hospitals evaluated located in the Seattle metropolitan area for treatment of heart attack, risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rates ranged from 5.5% on the low end to 12.2% on the high end, which is more than a 2-fold difference in mortality rates.

"Consumers today are assuming more and more responsibility for healthcare decisions and are increasingly relying on objective measures of quality to inform their selection of hospitals and physicians," said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades. "It is important for consumers to understand the variability in the nation's hospitals so that they can make more informed choices. By selecting a hospital that has achieved the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, consumers can be confident that this hospital has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to exceptional clinical quality care."