Providence Holy Cross Medical Center was named today among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for overall clinical quality for the fourth consecutive year.

HealthGrades™ – the nation’s leading health care ratings company – announced Providence Holy Cross again earned its Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award.  The Mission Hills medical center was among 270 hospitals in the nation that received the award, one based on low rates of both mortality and medical complications.

“The credit goes to our incomparable staff, our physicians and especially to our nurses, who work as a team to provide not only the best quality care, but the most compassionate care,” said Bernard Klein, M.D., chief medical officer at Providence Holy Cross.

According to the HealthGrades™ study, patients admitted to a hospital receiving this award are, on average, 27 percent less likely to die and 8 percent less likely to suffer from major complications. The independent study included 5,000 hospitals.

The HealthGrades™ study also found that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence improved patient outcomes at a greater rate in more procedures and diagnoses than all other hospitals, lowering risk-adjusted mortality rates from 2005-07 by an average of 18 percent.   HealthGrades™ estimates that 171,424 lives could have been saved in those three years if all Medicare patients were treated at these top hospitals.

“The hospitals that have been designated as Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence™ have, across-the-board, been leaders in their commitment to delivering the highest quality patient care,” said Rick May, M.D., HealthGrades™ senior physician consultant. “Consumers can choose where they receive their health care, and our study again highlights the tremendous disparity in quality between hospitals.”

In a recent national survey of physicians, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center ranked in the 97th percentile in these key queries:

• Rate your satisfaction with Providence Holy Cross Medical Center
• What hospital to do you recommend for your family and friends?
• What hospital has the best overall quality of care?

These findings – as well as today’s HealthGrades™ clinical excellence award – are gratifying for the medical center, which suffers from chronic overcrowding. In recent weeks Providence Holy Cross has exceeded capacity, prompting great focus on a 136-bed expansion that has been halted in mid-construction by a lawsuit. Providence is urging the Los Angeles City Council to reaffirm its approval of the project and allow work to resume.

“The two key reasons for our continued high quality performance are our phenomenal nursing team and our medical staff,” Chief Executive Kerry Carmody said. “Being the only Nurse Magnet hospital in northern L.A. County allows us to recruit and retain the very best nurses. The teamwork and respect between our nurses and our physicians drives excellent quality outcomes and high patient care quality.”

To achieve Nurse Magnet status, a hospital nursing staff must meet the highest standard of patient care, nursing practice and quality patient outcomes, according to the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

This is the seventh year that HealthGrades™ has independently analyzed the clinical quality performance of hospitals across the country in 26 procedures and diagnoses. In the Distinguished Hospital Study, the company reviewed nearly 41 million hospitalization records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over from 2005 through 2007. 

The complete list of 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award recipients and ratings of all hospitals is available at www.healthgrades.com.

 About Providence Holy Cross Medical Center

Established in 1961, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, a 254-bed not-for-profit organization, offers a full continuum of health services, from outpatient to inpatient to home health care. For more information visit www.providence.org/holycross.