St. Mary’s Health Care System announced that it has been recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Stoke Care and Gastrointestinal Care.  Healthgrades, the leading online resource helping consumers make informed decisions to find the right doctor and the right hospital for the right care, evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 34 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions*. St. Mary's was among the hospitals Healthgrades identified as being the 100 best-performing hospitals across all conditions or procedures evaluated within Stroke Care and Gastrointestinal Care.

St. Mary’s is the only hospital in the region to receive Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals Award for Stroke Care. St. Mary’s is also the only hospital in the State of Georgia to be named one of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Gastrointestinal Care for three consecutive years (2015-2017). In addition, St. Mary’s is the only hospital in the regionto receive Healthgrades 2017 Joint Replacement Excellence Award.

These achievements are part of findings released in the Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation. The new report demonstrates how clinical performance continues to differ dramatically between hospitals nationally, regionally and at the local level, and the impact that this variation may have on health outcomes.

For example, Healthgrades reports that from 2013-2015, if all hospitals as a group performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average 223,412 lives could potentially have been saved and 162,215 complications could potentially have been avoided. These findings are based on Healthgrades analysis of federal MedPAR data for 2013-2015 and represent a 3-year estimate for Medicare patients only. A 5-star rating indicates that a hospital’s clinical outcomes are statistically significantly better than expected when treating the condition or performing the procedure being evaluated.

From 2013-2015, patients treated at hospitals receiving the America’s 100 Best Hosptials for Stroke Care Award have, on average 34.4 percent lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award. Similarly, patients treated at hospitals that did not receive the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Gastrointestinal Care are, on average, 1.38 times more likely to experience a one or more complications or die than if they were treated in hospitals that did receive the award.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by Healthgrades for excellence in stroke and gastrointestinal care,” said St. Mary’s President and CEO Don McKenna. “It is a testament to the dedication of our staff and medical staff to excellence, and our commitment to investing time, talent and funds into continually improving our already high levels of clinical quality and patient care.”

St. Mary’s Health Care System is also a recipient of the Neurosciences Excellence Award, the Gastrointestinal Care Excellence Award, and a Five-Star Recipient for Pacemaker Procedures, the Treatment of Heart Failure, Total Knee Replacement, Hip Fracture Treatment, Treatment of Stroke, Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Treatment of GI Bleed.  St. Mary’s Health Care System is a recipient of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals in 2016 and a recipient of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for four consectuve years (2013-2016).

“The Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation reveals striking disparities in the quality observed among the Nation’s hospitals, and underscores why it is vital for consumers to understand outcomes performance at specific hospitals for specific conditions and procedures,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer for Healthgrades. “A given community may have many hospitals, but only a precious few may provide better-than-expected outcomes for the specific care a patient needs. Those hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades 100 Best Stroke Care and Gastrointestinal Care distinctions have demonstrated a commitment to exceptional quality of care.”