By Dale M. King
BOCA RATON – An independent study of women’s care at nearly 5,000 hospitals found Boca Raton Community Hospital (BRCH) to be in the top 5 percent in the nation, the hospital has announced.
Released by HealthGrades ®, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, the HealthGrades Seventh Annual Women’s Health in American Hospitals study analyzed nearly 7 million hospitalization records to identify top-performing hospitals.
Boca Raton Community Hospital is one of only 166 hospitals in the nation with patient outcomes for women that are in the top 5 percent, according to the study. As a result, Boca Raton Community Hospital received the 2010-2011 HealthGrades Women’s Health Excellence Award.
The latest accolade for Boca Raton Community Hospital adds to a growing list of honors. In addition to the Women’s Health Excellence award, HealthGrades has ranked BRCH in the top 5 percent nationally, earning it the 2010 Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.
The hospital was ranked #1 in Florida for cardiac surgery, #2 in Florida for the treatment of stroke, #3 in Florida for overall cardiac services and #1 in Florida for gastrointestinal medical treatment.
“Given that we now know medical problems like heart disease can manifest themselves differently in women than in men, we are extremely gratified to see HealthGrades recognize us in such a meaningful way,” said Jerry J. Fedele, president and chief executive officer of Boca Raton Community Hospital.
“We have a longstanding tradition for excellence in women’s health and the HealthGrades ranking is a strong validation of our experience and expertise.”
As a group, hospitals receiving this award had women’s risk-adjusted mortality rates that were 41 percent lower than the poorest performing hospitals in the study and complication rates that were 19 percent lower than the poorest performers.
While all hospitals, on average, continued to improve their mortality rates among women, those receiving the award improved at a faster rate than all others over the three years studied, 15 percent compared with 12 percent.
As part of the study, Boca Raton Community Hospital and virtually every other hospital in the country were evaluated for the following procedures and treatments among women aged 65 and over:
- Women’s Medicine (heart attack, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke)
- Women’s Cardiovascular Procedures (coronary bypass surgery, peripheral vascular bypass, coronary interventional procedures, resection/replacement of abdominal aorta, carotid surgery, and valve replacement); and
- Women’s Bone & Joint Health (total knee and total hip replacement surgeries, spinal surgeries, and hip fracture repair).
- “There is clearly a wide disparity in the quality of care for women among top-performing hospitals and all others,” said Rick May, MD, a vice president with HealthGrades and one of the study’s authors.
“The goal of this analysis is not only to put sound data in the hands of prospective patients, but also to identify top-performing hospitals that are setting national benchmarks for the treatment of women to which other hospitals can aspire.”
The HealthGrades study found that 16,863 women could have potentially survived their hospitalization and 4,735 women could have potentially avoided a major in-hospital complication if all hospitals performed at the benchmarks set by Boca Raton Community Hospital and the other award recipients.
The annual HealthGrades study analyzed nearly 7 million hospitalizations using Medicare data from all 50 states from 2006 through 2008. Eligible hospitals must have met volume requirements in stroke and either coronary bypass or valve replacements; met the volume requirements in at least six additional cohorts of the 16 evaluated; and have transferred out less than 10 percent of stroke patients.
Volume requirements are a minimum of 30 female discharges over the three years, with at least five in the most recent year for the cohort.
Boca Raton Community Hospital is an advanced tertiary medical center with 400 beds and more than 700 primary and specialty physicians on staff. The hospital is a recognized leader in oncology, cardiovascular disease and surgery, minimally invasive surgery, orthopedics and women’s health, all of which offer state-of-the-art diagnostic and imaging capabilities. The Hospital is a Joint Commission Designated Primary Stroke Center.
The complete study and full methodology are available for download at http://www.healthgrades.com.