Straub Medical Center has been recognized for two distinctions in quality excellence from Healthgrades: the Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ and the Healthgrades 2017 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™. Healthgrades is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.
Straub is one of only 26 hospitals in the nation to receive both the Patient Safety Excellence Award and the Outstanding Patient Experience Award for three consecutive years (2015-2017).
In addition, Straub continues to outperform peer hospitals in patient experience, receiving the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award every year for eight consecutive years since 2010.
“Our Straub team prides itself on providing quality, personalized care for our patients,” said Straub CEO Art Gladstone. “We are honored to receive these awards from Healthgrades for the third straight year. It validates the continuous effort by our physicians and staff to do the best they can for our patients, and it provides our patients with assurance that they can be confident in the safety and quality of care they receive at Straub.”
Only 95 out of the 2,932 hospitals evaluated for patient safety and patient experience excellence achieved both distinctions. This places Straub within the 3 percent of eligible hospitals in the nation to receive both awards. This distinction recognizes Straub for excellent performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications, as well as providing a positive experience for patients during their hospital stays.
Patient Safety
On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2013 to 2015, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.
In addition, during this study period, patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence AwardTM were, on average:
- 40.0 percent less likely to experience an accidental puncture or laceration during a procedure than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 44.6 percent less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 54.4 percent less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
- 50.2 percent less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
“We applaud recipients for their commitment to delivering high-quality care, while reducing patient safety events and providing a safe and positive experience for patients during their hospital stay,” said Brad Bowman, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades.
During the study period (2013-2015), Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Patient Experience
In addition to being recognized as one of Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients, Straub also outperformed peer hospitals in patient experience.
Healthgrades evaluated performance by applying a scoring methodology to 10 patient experience measures, using data collected from a 32-question patient experience survey of the hospital’s own patients. The survey questions focus on patients’ perspectives of their care in the hospital. The topics of these questions ranged from cleanliness and noise levels in patient rooms to factors such as pain management and responsiveness to patients’ needs. The measures also include whether a patient would recommend the hospital to friends or family.
Straub has received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award every year since 2010. In addition, it has received awards for specialty care provided in orthopedics and surgery including the Healthgrades 2017 America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery Award; Healthgrades 2017 General Surgery and Joint Replacement Excellence Awards and Healthgrades 2017 Five Star recipient for Pacemaker Procedures, Total Hip Replacement, Total Knee Replacement, Hip Fracture Treatment, Gallbladder Surgery, and Treatment of Pneumonia.
For more information about Healthgrades, to download a full copy of the report, or to receive information about hospital and physician quality, visit Healthgrades.com/Quality.