CarolinaEast announced today that it has achieved Healthgrades 2013 Patient Safety Excellence Award™, according to Healthgrades, the leading online resource that helps consumers search, evaluate, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals. The distinction places CarolinaEast within the top 5% of all hospitals for its excellent performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays.
On average, patients treated in Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals were:
81% less likely to experience hip fracture following surgery compared to hospitals ranked in the bottom 5% in the nation.
80% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital compared to hospitals ranked in the bottom 5% in the nation.
70% less likely to experience a catheter-related bloodstream Infection acquired in the hospital compared to hospitals ranked in the bottom 5% in the nation.
“Safety as a guiding principle’ is first in our list of values,” said Ray Leggett, President and CEO. “The CarolinaEast team has worked very hard to ensure our processes, protocols and care plans keep patient safety at the forefront. This recognition from Healthgrades is confirmation that all of our efforts are working and working very well.”
“Healthgrades reports highlight the variation in hospital quality, both locally and across the nation, in order to show consumers that spending time on understanding hospital performance can be a matter of life and death,” said Evan Marks, EVP Informatics and Strategy, Healthgrades. “Consumers can be assured that a hospital that has been recognized with a Healthgrades 2013 Patient Safety Excellence Award has demonstrated an established commitment to patient safety.”
During the 2013 study period (2009-2011), Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals showed better than expected performance in providing safety for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) across 13 of the 14 most common patient safety indicators, as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Measures taken to enhance patient safety at CarolinaEast range from the simple yet most important, hand washing, to the complex such as implementing bar code patient identification, the precision of robotic assisted surgery and central monitoring of patients.
Earlier this year, CarolinaEast was named among Healthgrades’ America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery TM in 2013 and received the Healthgrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award TM in 2013.
For more information about Healthgrades, to download a full copy of the report or to get information about hospital and physician quality, visit: www.Healthgrades.com today.
Submitted by: Megan McGarvey, Director, Public Relations, CarolinaEast Health System, 2000 Neuse Blvd., New Bern