June 30, 2008
National Patient Safety Study Finds Southampton Hospital
in Top Five Percent of US Hospitals
Southampton Hospital Named HealthGrades 2008 Distinguished Hospital
for Patient Safety™ - One of Only Seven Such Hospitals in New York State
Southampton, NY—Southampton Hospital announced today that it is one of only 249 hospitals out of nearly 5,000 nationwide to receive HealthGrades 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient SafetyTM. HealthGrades, the nation’s leading healthcare ratings company, analyzed 41 million Medicare patient records for its fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study, the largest of its kind. In addition, findings indicate that patients treated at top-performing hospitals had, on average, a 43 percent lower chance of experiencing one or more medical errors compared to the poorest-performing hospitals.
Southampton Hospital’s performance placed it among only seven hospitals in New York State and in the top five percent of US hospitals for patient safety outcomes.
If all US hospitals had performed at the level of HealthGrades 2008 Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety™, approximately 220,106 patient safety incidents and 37,214 Medicare deaths could have been avoided while saving the US approximately $2.0 billion during 2004 to 2006, according to the HealthGrades study.
“HealthGrades commends Southampton Hospital for its efforts to prevent medical errors and ensure that patients receive the safest-possible medical care,” comments Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and the primary author of the study. "This strong commitment to patient safety sets an important industry benchmark and demonstrates that success in reducing errors is possible.”
The fifth annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study applies methodology developed by the US Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to identify the incident rates of 13 patient safety incidents among Medicare patients at virtually all of the nation's nearly 5,000 nonfederal hospitals. Additionally, HealthGrades applied its methodology to identify the best-performing hospitals, or Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety™, which represent the top five percent of all US hospitals.
The following are the 13 patient-safety incidents used to identify HealthGrades Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety:
• Death in low-mortality DRGs
• Decubitus ulcer
• Failure to rescue
• Foreign body left in during procedure
• Iatrogenic pneumothorax
• Selected infections due to medical care
• Post-operative hemorrhage or hematoma
• Post-operative hip fracture
• Post-operative physiologic metabolic derangement
• Post-operative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis
• Post-operative respiratory failure
• Post-operative sepsis
• Post-operative abdominal wound dehiscence
The full study is available at www.healthgrades.com.
About HealthGrades
Health Grades, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings organization, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. Millions of consumers and many of the nation’s largest employers, health plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades’ independent ratings and decision support resources to make healthcare decisions based on
the quality and cost of care. More information on the company can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.
