North Memorial Medical Center receives Healthgrades 2015 America's 50 Best Hospitals Award

Today, North Memorial Medical Center announced that it has received the Healthgrades 2015 America's 50 Best Hospitals Award™. The distinction makes North Memorial Medical Center one of the top 1% of more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide for its consistent, year-over-year superior clinical performance as measured by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.

"We are very proud to be recognized as one of America's 50 Best Hospitals for the fourth consecutive year. Receiving this distinction year-after-year is a result of our entire team working together to ensure that all of our patients continually experience exceptional, compassionate and high quality care," said Jeff Wicklander, RN, President North Memorial Medical Center. "North Memorial has a disciplined approach to providing and maintaining superior clinical outcomes across a broad spectrum of conditions and procedures; we have an extensive breadth of services from our level 1 Trauma Center to our specialty services and this recognition is a testament to the care we provide all patients."

From 2011 through 2013, Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award™ recipients, as a group, had a 25.0% 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 America's 50 Best Hospitals Award™ recipients across these 19 procedures and conditions, 168,239 lives could potentially have been saved. For example, patients treated at a hospital that has achieved the America's 50 Best Hospitals Award™ had, on average, a 26.6% lower risk of dying from heart failure than if treated at a hospital that did not receive the award.

Variation in hospital performance exists locally as well as nationally. For example, in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, there was 1 hospital out of 6 eligible hospitals for the America's 50 Best Hospitals Award™. North Memorial Medical Center is among the hospitals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area with some of the best quality care across at least 21 of 32 common inpatient conditions and procedures evaluated by Healthgrades over a period of at least 6 years.

"The Healthgrades analysis shows that not all hospitals perform equally, so it is important that consumers do their homework when selecting a hospital," said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades. "Those hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades distinction have demonstrated a commitment to exceptional clinical quality care over an extended period of time."

In addition to the Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award, North Memorial has been recognized with the following awards displaying outstanding quality in many individual areas:

• One of Healthgrades America's 100 Best Hospitals for Stroke Care™ for 4 Years in a Row (2012-2015)
• One of Healthgrades America's 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care™ for 4 Years in a Row (2012-2015)
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Neurosciences Excellence Award™ for 4 Years in a Row (2012-2015)
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Neurosurgery Excellence Award™ for 3 Years in a Row (2013-2015)
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Gastrointestinal Care Excellence Award™ for 2 Years in a Row (2014-2015)
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Critical Care Excellence Award™ for 4 Years in a Row (2012-2015)
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™ for 5 Years in a Row (2010-2014)
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Women's Health Excellence Award™ for 6 Years in a Row (2009-2014)

The 50 recipients of the America's 50 Best Hospitals Award™ 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 performance data (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications).