(Courtesy of St. Mary’s General Hospital) When we think of awards, we think of the Oscars or the Grammys – awards for best performance in their respective category. Names are submitted to the awards shows organization and are voted on by the members is a simplified explanation – basically a popularity show.
Hospitals and physicians can also receive awards. Healthcare awards are given to facilities who demonstrate results in specific care areas. For the past 20 years, Healthgrades has been the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, and they measure 32 conditions and procedures based on outcomes data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and for two procedures based on all-payer data from 15 states, representing just under half of the U.S. population. They then assign star ratings based on the differences in hospital performance, measured by risk-adjusted in-hospital complication rates and in-hospital/30-day post-admission mortality rates.
How do we know that all procedures are analyzed equally? The World Health Organization publishes a copyrighted standardized list entitled, “International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (now 10th Revision)” shortened to International Classification of Diseases and coded ICD-10. These ICD-10 codes are 72,000+ alphanumeric codes used by doctors, health insurance companies and public health agencies across the world to represent diagnoses. Every disease, disorder, injury, infection and symptom has its own ICD-10 code. ICD-10 codes are used for everything from processing health insurance claims to tracking disease epidemics and compiling worldwide mortality statistics. For example, the ICD-10 code B34.2 is for the “Coronavirus infection, unspecified.”
For consumers, it can be equally critical to understand the disparity in performance between local area hospitals for specific conditions and procedures. Just because a hospital is excellent with one procedure does not mean they are that good with all procedures. According to Healthgrades, if all hospitals as a group performed similarly to hospitals rated 5-stars, on average: 220,019 lives could potentially have been saved and 149,403 complications could potentially have been avoided.
In today’s world most consumers Google what they need to know. Unfortunately, social media can skew results, either when somebody is dissatisfied with the organization or when there is a conscientious effort to score high ratings. With an independent ratings organization, those issues go away.
St. Mary’s General Hospital Awards
“When I first joined St. Mary’s General Hospital, I was very impressed with the list of awards they had earned,” said George Matyjewicz, PhD, Community Liaison and Consultant to the hospital. “What’s more, I, and most people living in our community, had no idea that they had earned these awards! And, some of these awards are very important to us, especially those for childbirth and women’s procedures, since our communities are known for large families.
“The other series of awards of interest to our kehila is those that focus on quality, which comforts us to know that the people working at the hospital care for the patients.”
Since Prime Healthcare took over St. Mary’s General Hospital, their focus has been on quality service, which can be attested by The Joint Commission Top Performers on Key Quality Measures for 3 consecutive years and the Healthgrades Awards they continuously receive every year:
- America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Prostate Surgery – 2018-2020
- Five-Star Recipient for Hip Fracture Treatment – 2018-2019
- Five-Star Recipient for Appendectomy – 2017-2020
- Excellence Award for Gynecologic Surgery – 2018-2019
- Superior Performance Award for Gynecologic Surgery – 2018-2019
- Five-Star Recipient for Gynecological Procedures – 2019
- Five-Star Recipient for Vaginal Delivery – 2016-2019
- Five-Star Recipient for C-Section Delivery – 2016-2019
- Five-Star Recipient for Hysterectomy – 2016-2019
This is in addition to specific industry awards like American College of Radiology where their accredited imaging services earned:
- Gold Standard of Accreditation for Mammography
- Gold Standard of Accreditation for Ultrasound
- Gold Standard of Accreditation for Computed Tomography
- And the accreditations from:
- College of American Pathologists
- Interdisciplinary Commission for Vascular Labs
- American Association of Blood Banks
- Food & Drug Administration for Mammography
- Hospital and Behavioral Health by The Joint Commission
- American College of Cardiology (Chest Pain Accreditation with Primary PCI)
- State Designated Heart Center
- Certified Stroke Center
“Quality service is the prime ingredient in serving our community at St. Mary’s,” said Matyjewicz. “And it’s not a beauty contest, or a Grammy awards show. These are premium awards by independent sources who analyze results of patient services as submitted to CMS and compared to other hospitals. St. Mary’s General Hospital–nationally recognized, locally preferred–among the top hospitals in America for health, quality and patient safety!”
For a tour or more information about St. Mary’s General Hospital, please email Matyjewicz at [email protected]
