Oct 13, 2009
St.Anthony Central Media Contact:
Bev Lilly
(303) 629-4224
bevlilly@centura.org
HealthGrades Media Contact
Scott Shapiro
(720) 963-6584
sshapiro@healthgrades.com
ST. ANTHONY CENTRAL HOSPITAL RANKS BEST IN COLORADO FOR STROKE CARE
St. Anthony Central Hospital quality awards rank its stroke care among the top 5% nationally. Findings are based on HealthGrades’ 12th Annual Hospital Quality in America Study
Denver, CO (October 13, 2009) – St. Anthony Central Hospital is proud to announce that it has once again been recognized for outstanding quality of care outcomes as a recipient of the 2010 Stroke Care Excellence Award™ from HealthGrades, the leading independent health care ratings company.
This is the second consecutive year that St. Anthony Central Hospital has achieved this clinical distinction placing the facility’s clinical outcomes among the top five percent nationally for treatment given to patients suffering from a stroke. In fact, St. Anthony Central Hospital ranks best in Colorado in treatment of stroke patients.
This is not the only recognition St. Anthony Central has received for quality of care given to stroke patients. In 2009, the facility was recognized by the American Heart Association’s Get-With-The -Guidelines program for stroke care as a Gold Award facility. This award recognizes hospitals that demonstrate compliance in seven key quality measures over a consistent time period for treatment of stroke patients.
In addition, the hospital has been certified as a Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission recognizing their efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care. Achievement of this certification means the facility offers the critical elements to effectively meet the specialized care needs of the patients they serve. St. Anthony Central Hospital has one of the only dedicated patient units to care for these critical patients along the Front Range and also can offer high quality rehabilitation services to ensure these patients quickly work to regain as much quality of life functioning as possible.
The HealthGrades hospital ratings help consumers make well-informed decisions about their health care choices and these clinical distinctions mean that patients and their families can feel confident that they are receiving care from one of the best stroke care centers in the nation!
HealthGrades is the nation’s leading health care ratings organization that independently and objectively grades the performance of virtually every hospital in the United States engaged in caring for stroke patients. Using a risk-adjustment model that accounts for the variations in illness of patients cared for by different hospitals and makes fair comparisons, they compare the quality of care of 5,000 hospitals using clinical indicators. The evaluation is based on the most recent three years of Medicare hospital data available, 2006-2008.
Stroke remains the third leading cause of death in the United States killing nearly 140,000 citizens annually*. A stroke occurs either when the blood supply to a part of a person’s brain is blocked or when a blood vessel in or around the brain bursts, causing damage to a part of the brain.
Among survivors, stroke can cause significant disability including paralysis as well as speech and emotional problems. New treatments that can reduce the damage caused by a stroke for some victims; but these treatments must be administered quickly after symptoms start. Fortunately for Colorado residents, St. Anthony Central has access to state of the art technology and specially trained physicians to treat all types of stroke patients. In Colorado, Stroke is the 5th leading cause of death for citizens killing nearly 2,000 residents in 2006*.
“These awards and national recognition are a testament to the excellent work and dedication of our physicians and associates who are committed to delivering a level of quality of care that is second to none,” said Peter Makowski, president & CEO of St. Anthony Central Hospital.
NeuroSpecialty Associates and InterMountain Neurosurgery & Neuroscience are the two key physician groups contributing to the Five-Star rated quality of care provided at St. Anthony. All of the hospital’s physicians and staff are highly trained and strive to provide multidisciplinary clinically excellent care for all patients and the quality of care provided to stroke patients exemplifies this mission.
While overall death rates declined from 2006 to 2008, the nation’s best-performing hospitals were able to reduce preventable deaths at a much faster rate than poor-performing hospitals, resulting in large state, regional and hospital-to-hospital variations in the quality of patient care, the study found.
These findings were included in the twelfth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study™, which is the most comprehensive study of its kind, analyzing more nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2006 to 2008 at the nation’s approximately 5,000 non-federal hospitals.
According to the study, if all hospitals performed at the level of five-star rated hospitals, 224,537 Medicare deaths could potentially have been prevented over the three years studied. More than half of those preventable deaths were associated with four conditions: sepsis, pneumonia, heart failure and respiratory failure.
Based on the study, HealthGrades today made available its 2010 quality ratings for virtually every hospital in the country at www.healthgrades.com, a Web site designed to help individuals research and compare local health care providers.
On its Web site, HealthGrades offers, free to consumers, quality ratings of 27 procedures and treatments for virtually every hospital in the country. The Web site is designed so that consumers can easily compare patient outcomes at their local hospitals for procedures ranging from aortic aneurysm repair to bypass surgery. Each hospital receives a star rating based on its patient outcomes in terms of mortality or complication rates for each procedure or treatment. Hospitals with outcomes that are above average to a statistically significant degree receive a five-star rating. Hospitals with average outcomes receive a three-star rating, and hospitals with outcomes that are below average receive a one-star rating. Because no two hospitals or their patients’ risk profiles are alike, HealthGrades employs extensive risk-adjustment algorithms to ensure that it is making analogous comparisons.
Located in Denver, Colorado, St. Anthony Central Hospital is a nationally recognized full-service health care organization with renowned programs in trauma, cardiovascular services, neurosciences and orthopedics. This faith-based hospital has served Colorado for more than 117 years. St. Anthony Central Hospital is part of Centura Health, which operates 12 hospitals, seven senior residences, medical clinics and home care and hospice services across Colorado. For more information on St. Anthony Central Hospital, please visit www.stanthonycentral.org.
Editor’s note: A full copy of the study is available at http://www.healthgrades.com or by contacting Scott Shapiro at sshapiro@healthgrades.com.
*Source: Center for Disease Control Deaths: Final Data for 2006.
