Other regional hospitals also on elite list
By Margie M. Palmer
Alvarado Hospital’s clinical outcomes have once again garnered national attention.
The institution has received the Healthgrades’ Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for the third year in a row; the nod distinguishes the facility as being among the top 5 percent of more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide for critical care.
From 2012-14, Healthgrades’ Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 26.5 percent lower risk adjusted in-hospital mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions compared to all other hospitals. Top performing hospitals are selected based on clinical excellence across a broad spectrum of specialty care and superior outcomes.
“Unfortunately, not all hospitals perform equally when it comes to clinical outcomes, so it’s important that consumers do their research in order to find the right care,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer at Healthgrades.
Alvarado Hospital has also been honored twice by the organization for overall orthopedic services and spine surgery.
“This award is huge for us,” Alvarado administrator Robin Gomez said. “It puts out a report card out to the community that helps them know that when they are choosing healthcare, there is a community hospital right there that is performing at a very high level.”
Gomez also notes that since Healthgrades uses measurable data to determine the top hospitals for clinical, the distinction is based on objective data.
“Being named a ‘Clinical Excellence’ hospital shows that we have put together protocols and that we’re able to get everyone on staff to work as a coordinated care team,” she said. “Our goal has always been to provide a strong template for care coordination. This allows patients to be treated quickly and it allows us to efficiently perform protocols that have been set forth by the federal government, which allows us to provide really good care for our patients.”
Other local hospitals, including UC San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center in Hillcrest, Scripps La Jolla, Scripps Green and Scripps Encinitas were also rated in the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for clinical care.
UCSD Health institution has received Healthgrades’ Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence and America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Critical Care Award for the third year in a row; Scripps Green was named on Healthgrades’ Clinical Excellence list in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“We are honored to be among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the U.S. that demonstrate measurably superior health outcomes for our patients,” said Patty Maysent, CEO of UC San Diego Health. “As the only academic health system in the region, we are devoted to offering an unparalleled quality of care and exceptional clinical results.”
UC San Diego Health also performed exceptionally well in both gastrointestinal and general surgery with expertise in weight loss, cancer care and organ transplantation.
“We’re honored to be recognized by Healthgrades as among the best hospitals in the nation when it comes to delivering high-quality care across a wide range of patient conditions and procedures,” said Maida Soghikian, M.D., chief of staff at Scripps Green Hospital. Healthgrades Chief Strategy Officer Marks said the organization applauds the hospitals that have achieved the 2016 distinction “for demonstrating an unwavering commitment to high-quality care.
“The [award] recipients clearly place a premium on producing great clinical outcomes and stand out from their peers in their overall clinical performance,” he said. “We commend these hospitals for their well-deserved achievements,”
––Margie M. Palmer is a San Diego-based freelance writer who has been racking up bylines in a myriad of news publications for the past 10 years. Reach her at [email protected].
