Augusta Health has been named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals by Healthgrades, the leading online resource that helps consumers compare and connect with physicians and hospitals. This recognition places Augusta Health among the top 2% of hospitals in the nation.
Healthgrades based its evaluation on objective measures of clinical quality across nearly 4,500 hospitals across the United States. The hospitals named America’s 100 Best, like Augusta Health, had measurably lower risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates across at least 19 of 27 conditions and procedures. To be eligible for this distinguished group, America’s 100 Best Hospitals need to turn in top performance over the most recent evaluation period and have demonstrated this high level of performance consistently, year after year for a minimum of four years.
This is the second year that Augusta Health has earned this designation of consistently superior clinical performance in the Harrisonburg-Charlottesville region. While many of the nation’s hospitals are eligible to be on the list, Augusta Health was one of five in Virginia to receive the America’s 100 Best Hospitals designation. The other hospitals from Virginia were Bon Secours Memorial Regional in Mechanicsville and Henrico Doctors’ Hospital (including Parham Doctors’ Hospital and Retreat Doctors’ Hospital) in Richmond.
“We are honored to be recognized as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals,” said Mary N. Mannix, FACHE, President and CEO of Augusta Health, “because it is one that acknowledges superior clinical performance over a period of several years. It also is a reflection of the commitment and dedication of our medical staff and employees. This recognition is a testament to that teamwork and the high quality care they provide.”
In addition to a comprehensive cancer program affiliated with Duke Medicine at the Augusta Health Cancer Center, and a new Heart and Vascular Center on the Augusta Health campus, Augusta Health’s services include laboratories, urgent care and convenient care clinics, imaging centers and physicians’ offices that stretch across the Shenandoah Valley. Hospice of the Shenandoah, Care Home Medical, and Augusta Health Home Health also serve patients outside the hospital’s four walls. Most recently, Augusta Health added a Patient Centered Medical Home, where a team of healthcare providers work with patients with multiple chronic diseases.
Healthgrades considers Augusta Health’s performance exceptional for significantly reducing the number of avoidable deaths in the region. According to Healthgrades analysis, if all hospitals lowered their mortality rates to the level of Augusta Health and the other 99 hospitals on the America’s 100 Best list, 165,636 lives could have potentially been saved nationwide between 2009 and 2011.
“This distinction provides a measure of confidence for consumers,” said Evan Marks, Executive Vice President of Informatics and Strategy at Healthgrades. “Hospitals earn this distinction by providing better than expected outcomes across a broad spectrum of conditions and procedures over an extended period of time. Their exceptional performance reflects their dedicated approach to delivering superior quality of care for patients.”
Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for nearly 4500 hospitals across the nation in 28 procedures and conditions annually. Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for nearly every hospital in the nation; no hospital can opt-out of evaluation, and no hospital pays to be evaluated. Mortality and complication rates are risk adjusted, which takes into account the differing severity of illness at different hospitals and allows for hospitals to be compared fairly. Healthgrades.com provides information on objective measure of hospital performance to allow consumers to compare their local hospitals online.
Augusta Health is an independent, nonprofit community hospital whose mission is to promote the health and well-being of our community through access to excellent care. Named one of the 100 Top Hospitals in America by Thomson Reuters in both 2011 and 2012, Augusta Health has also been nationally recognized by HealthGrades as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for clinical excellence and patient safety. For more information about Augusta Health, its programs or its services, please contact Public Relations at 540.245.7329 or 540.221.7329, or visit our website, www.augustahealth.com.
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Chris Graham
