Brazosport Regional Health System Received the Joint Replacement Specialty Excellence Award for 2010
National Study of Patient Outcomes in 5,000 Hospitals Puts Brazosport Regional Health System among the Best in the Nation for Joint Replacement
Orthopedic Center of Excellence Committee Members
Brazosport Regional Health System is a recipient of the Joint Replacement Specialty Excellence Award for 2010 from HealthGrades®, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, as part of a national study of patient outcomes in the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals. This award rates Brazosport Regional among the top 10% of hospitals in America.
As a recipient of the Joint Replacement Specialty Excellence Award for 2010, Brazosport Regional also received a 5-star rating for Total Knee Replacement. The study found that 5-star-rated hospitals had, on average, an 80% lower rate of complications than hospitals rated by HealthGrades as 1-star. Hospitals across the country cannot opt in or out of the independent national study nor can they pay for the ratings.
“The award demonstrates our commitment to high-quality care and underlines our vision of being one of the premier community based healthcare service organizations in the nation,” remarks Daniel Buche, CEO/President of Brazosport Regional. “This award would not have been possible without key members of our board of directors, medical team, hospital employees and the Orthopedics Center of Excellence Committee.”
 A wide variation in quality exists among American hospitals, according to the twelfth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America study. Patients had a 72 percent better chance of surviving in 5-star rated hospitals when compared with 1-star rated hospitals across a range of procedures studied such as knee replacement and hip replacement surgeries. The study also found that if all hospitals performed at the level of a 5-star rated hospital, 110,687 orthopedic inhospital complications may have been avoided among Medicare patients over the three years studied.
Almost two years ago, Brazosport Regional organized an orthopedic committee to start outlining plans for an Orthopedic Center of Excellence. Now the health system houses state of the art equipment, five designated orthopedic rooms, board-certified physicians, specialty trained nurses, licensed therapists and top-notch educational material. Areas of orthopedic focus include total joint replacement (hip and knee), foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow.
“Our goal is to help all our patients return to their optimal function,” said Dr. Samuel Hudson, Medical Director of the Orthopedic Center. “Brazosport Regional offers a full range of orthopedic services to help relieve pain and restore your active lifestyle.”
HealthGrades Ratings
The HealthGrades study, the largest annual report of its kind, analyzed patient outcomes in nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 5,000 hospitals over the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.
HealthGrades’ hospital ratings and awards reflect the track record of patient outcomes at hospitals in the form of mortality and complication rates. HealthGrades rates hospitals independently based on data that hospitals submit to the federal government. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated.
For 28 procedures and treatments, HealthGrades issues star ratings that reflect the mortality and complication rates for each category of care. Hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have mortality or complication rates that are below the national average, to a statistically significant degree. A 3-star rating means the hospital performs as expected. One-star ratings indicate the hospital’s mortality or complication rates in that procedure or treatment are statistically higher than average. Because the risk profiles of patient populations at hospitals are not alike, HealthGrades risk-adjusts the data to allow for apples-to-apples comparisons.
More information on today’s HealthGrades study, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com.
|