IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Edward Barrera
Communications Director
ebarrera@primehealthcare.com
Prime Healthcare Hospitals Awarded an “A” for Patient Safety by Hospital Safety Score
Ontario, Calif., June 6, 2012 – Eleven Prime Healthcare hospitals were honored today with an “A” Hospital Safety ScoreSM by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits.
The first annual Hospital Safety ScoreSM was calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s Blue Ribbon Expert Panel. Using publicly available information, the panel graded more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals based on data that tracks preventable errors and medical complications, such as hospital-acquired infections and medication mix-ups. U.S. hospitals were assigned an A, B, C, D, or F for their safety. Only 729 of the hospitals graded received an “A.”
“We are committed to keeping our patients safe and for making safety information available to healthcare consumers,” said Prem Reddy, M.D., FACC, FCCP, Chairman, President and CEO of Prime Healthcare Services. “These high scores highlight the devotion and hard work by the physicians, nurses and staff at these hospitals to the highest standards of quality care in the nation.”
The Prime Healthcare hospitals that received an “A” were: Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Chino Valley Medical Center, Desert Valley Hospital, Encino Hospital (Non-profit), Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center, La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, Paradise Valley Hospital, San Dimas Community Hospital, Shasta Regional Medical Center, Sherman Oaks Hospital (Non-profit) and West Anaheim Medical Center.
“It’s The Leapfrog Group’s goal to give patients the information they need and deserve before even entering a hospital,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the hospitals that earned an ‘A’ and we look forward to the day when all hospitals in the U.S. will earn the highest scores for putting patient safety first.”
To see the hospitals’ scores as they compare nationally and locally, visit www.hospitalsafetyscore.org, the Hospital Safety ScoreSM website, which also provides information on how the public can protect themselves and loved ones during a hospital stay.
Calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group’s nine-member Blue Ribbon Expert Panel, the Hospital Safety Score uses 26 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries, and medical and medication errors. The panel includes: John Birkmeyer (University of Michigan), Ashish Jha (Harvard University), Lucian Leape (Harvard University), Arnold Millstein (Stanford University), Peter Pronovost (Johns Hopkins University), Patrick Romano (University of California, Davis), Sara Singer (Harvard University), Tim Vogus (Vanderbilt University), and Robert Wachter (University of California, San Francisco).
Prime Healthcare Services
Ontario, CA-based Prime Healthcare Services (www.primehealthcare.com) is one of the largest hospital companies in the U.S. Through their subsidiaries, Prime Healthcare Services and the non-profit Prime Healthcare Foundation have more than 12,000 employees and own and operate 17 acute care hospitals: Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Chino Valley Medical Center, Desert Valley Hospital, Encino Hospital Medical Center, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center, Huntington Beach Hospital, La Palma Intercommunity Hospital, Montclair Hospital Medical Center, Paradise Valley Hospital, San Dimas Community Hospital, Shasta Regional Medical Center, Sherman Oaks Hospital, West Anaheim Medical Center, all in California, Harlingen Medical Center and Pampa Regional Medical Center, in Texas, and Roxborough Memorial Hospital, in Pennsylvania.
Prime Healthcare was recognized as the ‘Top 15 Health System’ in the nation in 2012 and the ‘Top 10 Health System’ in the nation in 2009 by Thomson Reuters. Of the twelve hospitals that are accredited by Joint Commission, nine earned national recognition as “Top Performer,” (Top 14%), on Key Quality Measures in 2011 by Joint Commission, the leading accreditation organization in the country. Five of the hospitals were ranked as the ‘Top 100 Hospitals’ for quality patient care in 2012.
The Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org) is a national organization using the collective leverage of large purchasers of health care to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of health care for Americans. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey allows purchasers to structure their contracts and purchasing to reward the highest performing hospitals. The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 with support from the Business Roundtable and national funders, and is now independently operated with support from its purchaser and other members.
