EvergreenHealth Awarded for Outstanding Hospital Safety and Quality Care
Independent organizations place the health system among the area's highest-ranked hospitals for safety, stroke care, pulmonary care and critical care
Kirkland, Wash. – EvergreenHealth announced today its latest recognitions from independent safety and quality organizations The Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades, which place the Kirkland-based health system among the area's highest-ranked hospitals for patient care.
These latest accolades include an "A" rating for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group, a leading independent watchdog organization on hospital quality and safety, as well as new recognition from Healthgrades that distinguishes EvergreenHealth as the no. 1 hospital in the state for stroke care, and as the highest-ranked hospital in the Seattle area for pulmonary and critical care. The Healthgrades rankings place EvergreenHealth among the top two hospitals in the state for pulmonary and critical care, as well.
Healthgrades is the nation's leading consumer resource for information about physicians and hospitals, and its annual rankings help demonstrate the impact that clinical performance may have on health outcomes.
"Throughout our 50-year history, EvergreenHealth physicians, staff and volunteers have continually held each other to the highest standards for delivering exceptional patient safety, care and service to our patients and families," said EvergreenHealth CEO Jeff Tomlin, MD. "These latest recognitions from The Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades are encouraging reminders of our shared commitment to serve our community with high-quality, safe and compassionate care. They demonstrate the excellence that's possible when we work together toward our purpose to enrich the health and well-being of every life we touch."
This is the seventh consecutive "A" grade that EvergreenHealth has been awarded from Leapfrog as part of its annual spring review. Leapfrog's Hospital Safety Grade report scores hospitals across the country, assessing how well they keep patients safe from errors, accidents and infections.
The Spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades report assigns letter grades – A, B, C, D and F – to general acute-care hospitals across the U.S. by using up to 22 national patient safety measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, and information from other supplemental data sources, to produce a single letter grade representing a hospital's overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
Of the nearly 3,000 hospitals graded, 33% earned an A grade, 24% earned a B, 36% earned a C, 7% earned a D and less than 1% of hospitals earned an F. EvergreenHealth is one of only 17 hospitals in Washington to achieve an "A" rating this spring, according to Leapfrog's latest Hospital Safety Grades report.
In addition to earning the top grade this spring from Leapfrog, EvergreenHealth also received recognition from Healthgrades as part of the independent organization's newly released state rankings data for clinical outcomes.
The Healthgrades State Ranking Analysis for 2022 designates EvergreenHealth as Washington's highest-ranked hospital for stroke care, and as the highest-ranked hospital in the Seattle area for critical care and pulmonary care. The new state rankings also place EvergreenHealth among the top two hospitals in the state for critical care and pulmonary care, as well. These rankings put EvergreenHealth in the top 5% in the nation for stroke and pulmonary care, and in the top 10% in the nation for critical care, among the 4,500 hospitals analyzed nationwide.
Hospitals recognized as among the Top Ranked in their state by Healthgrades are providing patients with measurably superior clinical outcomes. For example, from 2018-2020, patients treated at hospitals receiving a state ranking for Stroke Care have, on average, a 38.4% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that were not state ranked for Stroke Care.* Similarly, from 2018-2020, patients treated at hospitals which did not receive a state ranking for Stroke Care are, on average, 1.62 times more likely to die than if they were treated in hospitals that were state ranked for Stroke Care.*
For the State Ranking analysis, Healthgrades evaluated clinical performance for nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide focusing on eight key specialties across a mix of chronic, urgent, and planned clinical areas.
"Hospitals receiving a top state ranking have much to be proud of as their deep medical expertise has built a track record of delivering positive outcomes for their patients," said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Data Science, Healthgrades. Bowman added, "For almost 25 years, our mission has been to provide consumers with clear and accessible information to make more informed healthcare decisions. Patients can feel confident knowing that they have access to top ranked care for Stroke, Pulmonary and Critical Care at EvergreenHealth."
Earlier this year, Healthgrades also named EvergreenHealth among America's 50 Best Hospitals™ for the second year in a row, which recognizes EvergreenHealth as the only public hospital district in Washington state to place in the top 1% of hospitals nationwide.
Consumers can visit healthgrades.com for more information on how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and access the complete methodology here.
*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2018 through 2020 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only. To view the complete methodology, please visit: https://www.healthgrades.com/quality/healthgrades-specialty-state-rankings-methodology.
