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Patient Care at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles Rates Highly According to Recent Study

Posted on: Monday, 15 October 2007, 12:00 CDT

Good Samaritan Hospital identified as top performer in several clinical areas including joint replacement, stroke, pulmonary and GI care according to a recent HealthGrades study of hospital quality in America. Same study also finds a gap in quality between the best and poorest-performing hospitals.

Patients admitted to the nation's top-performing, five-star hospitals like Good Samaritan Hospital, have, on average, a 71 percent lower chance of dying, than those treated at one-star hospitals across 18 procedures and conditions, according to a study released today by HealthGrades. HealthGrades is the nation's leading independent ratings company.

According to The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, Good Samaritan Hospital also received the following recognitions:

Ranked among the top 5 percent in the nation for overall GI Services, GI Medical Treatment and Treatment of Stroke

Ranked among the top 10 percent in the nation for Joint Replacement and Pulmonary Care

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Heart Failure

Five-Star Rated for Joint Replacement

Five-Star Rated for Total Knee Replacement

Five-Star Rated for Total Hip Replacement

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Stroke

Five-Star Rated for Overall Pulmonary Services

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Pneumonia

Five-Star Rated for GI Procedures and Surgeries

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of GI Bleed

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Bowel Obstruction

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Sepsis

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Respiratory Failure

"Our research shows that while the overall quality of hospital care in America is improving, the gap between the best-performing hospitals and the worst persists," said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and author of the study. "This persistent gap makes it imperative that anyone planning to be admitted to a hospital do their homework and seek out highly rated facilities."

The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study identifies key trends in the quality of care provided by approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide. HealthGrades researchers analyzed Medicare discharges from every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006. Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates were calculated and hospitals were assigned a 1-star (poor), 3-star (as expected), or 5-star (best) quality rating for 28 diagnoses and procedures from heart failure to hip replacement to pneumonia. Individual hospital quality results from this study are available at www.healthgrades.com.

Among the study's key findings:

Large gaps persist between the "best" and the "worst" hospitals across all procedures and conditions studied. Five-star rated hospitals, such as Good Samaritan Hospital had significantly lower risk-adjusted mortality across all three years studied.

Across all procedures and conditions studied, there was an approximate 71 percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to a 1-star rated hospital.

Across all procedures and conditions studied, there was an approximate 52 percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to the U.S. hospital average.

The 2008 HealthGrades ratings for all hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the organization's award-winning consumer Web site, located at www.healthgrades.com. More than three million individuals and employees of some of the nation's largest employers and health plans visit HealthGrades each month to access quality information about hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. HealthGrades also provides consumers and payers with detailed assessments of hospitals' patient-safety outcomes, based on indicators developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

About Good Samaritan Hospital

First opened in 1885, Good Samaritan Hospital is a 408-bed tertiary care facility offering some of the most comprehensive care in Los Angeles. Specializing in cardiac services, women's services, orthopedics, oncology, and retinal surgery, Good Samaritan Hospital offers Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Neurosciences program featuring the Gamma Knife radiosurgery, Ophthalmologic Program including Retinal Surgery, Orthopedic Surgical Program including Sports Medicine, Oncology Program using the latest in radiation therapy -- IMRT and HDR, Kidney Stone services, Transfusion-Free Medicine and Surgery Center, and Emergency Services. For more information visit www.goodsam.org.

Source: Business Wire

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