EvergreenHealth Named One of America's 100 Best Hospitals in Five Specialties

Kirkland, Wash. – EvergreenHealth today announced it has been recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s 100 Best™ hospitals in five specialties: stroke care, pulmonary care, critical care, gastrointestinal care and general surgery. These achievements are part of findings released this week in the Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation, which studies clinical performance indicators nationwide, offering patients data-based resources to make informed decisions about physicians and hospitals.

“We are proud to be recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s highest-performing hospitals,” said EvergreenHealth CEO Bob Malte. “This honor is a testament to EvergreenHealth’s very strong commitment to safety, quality of care and service to our patients and communities.”

For its 2017 report, Healthgrades evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 34 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions. It identified the 100 best-performing hospitals across all conditions or procedures evaluated within nine clinical service areas.

This is the fourth consecutive year EvergreenHealth ranks among Healthgrades’ 100 Best™ hospitals for pulmonary care and for gastrointestinal care, and the third straight year of recognition for general surgery. It is also the second year in a row the health system earned the distinction for both critical care and stroke care.

EvergreenHealth is the only health system in Washington state to be named among the top five percent in the nation for neurosciences for two years in a row. The health system received the Healthgrades Stroke Care Excellence Award™ for the eighth consecutive year, as well.

EvergreenHealth’s dedication to patient-focused care and services is also reflected in its year-over-year track record of earning Healthgrades’ Five-Star ratings in multiple areas of treatment. The health system earned Five-Star ratings in the treatment of pneumonia for 12 years in a row, treatment of stroke and sepsis for eight consecutive years, the treatment of heart failure for seven years in a row and the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for six consecutive years, among others.

Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected) categories.

At the national level, Healthgrades’ report continues to illuminate differences in care between high- and low-performing hospitals. For example, from 2013-2015, if all hospitals collectively 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. 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.

“We applaud Healthgrades for using rigorous research to shine a light on the fact that all care delivery is not equal, and that by visiting hospitals with high performance indicators, patients can help reduce their risk of complications or even mortality,” said Malte. “We believe these evidence-based efforts are critical to help patients make informed decisions about their care.”

“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 Specialty distinction have demonstrated a commitment to exceptional quality of care.”

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 32 common conditions and procedures, as well as an evaluation of comparative outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 18 states.

The complete Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology can be found atwww.healthgrades.com/quality.

For more information about EvergreenHealth’s commitment to quality and safety and exceptional care, visitwww.evergreenhealth.com.

A comprehensive list of EvergreenHealth’s 2017 Healthgrades recognitions include:

Gastrointestinal Care

·         Recipient of the Healthgrades Gastrointestinal Care Excellence Award™ for 4 Years in a Row (2014-2017)

·         Recipient of the Healthgrades General Surgery Excellence Award™ for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

·         Named Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Overall GI Services for 4 Years in a Row (2014-2017)

·         Named Among the Top 5% in the Nation for General Surgery for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Small Intestine Surgeries for 2 Years in a Row (2016-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Colorectal Surgeries for 4 Years in a Row (2014-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of GI Bleed for 4 Years in a Row (2014-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Bowel Obstruction for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

Pulmonary Care

·         Recipient of the Healthgrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ for 7 Years in a Row (2011-2017)

·         Named Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services for 6 Years in a Row (2012-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease for 6 Years in a Row (2012-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Pneumonia for 12 Years in a Row (2006-2017)

Critical Care

·         Recipient of the Healthgrades Critical Care Excellence Award™ for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

·         Named Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Critical Care for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Sepsis for 8 Years in a Row (2010-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Pulmonary Embolism for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Respiratory Failure for 2 Years in a Row 2016-2017)

Neurosciences

·         Recipient of the Healthgrades Stroke Care Excellence Award™ for 8 Years in a Row (2010-2017)

·         Recipient of the Healthgrades Neurosciences Excellence Award™ for 2 Years in a Row (2016-2017)

·         Named Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Treatment of Stroke for 2 Years in a Row (2016-2017)

·         Named Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Neurosciences for 2 Years in a Row (2016-2017) *

·         Named Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Treatment of Stroke for 8 Years in a Row (2010-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Stroke for 8 Years in a Row (2010-2017)

*Only hospital in the state to receive this award eight years in a row.

Cardiac

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack for 3 Years in a Row (2015-2017)

·         Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure for 7 Years in a Row (2011-2017)

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About EvergreenHealth

EvergreenHealth is an integrated health care system that serves nearly one million residents in King and Snohomish counties and offers a breadth of services and programs that is among the most comprehensive in the region. More than 1,000 physicians provide clinical excellence in over 80 specialties, including heart and vascular care, oncology, surgical care, orthopedics, neurosciences, women’s and children’s services, pulmonary care and home care and hospice services. Formed as a public hospital district in 1972, EvergreenHealth includes a 318-bed acute care medical center in Kirkland, a network of 10 primary care practices, two urgent care centers, over two dozen specialty care practices and 24/7 emergency care at its Kirkland, Monroe, and Redmond campuses. In 2015, the system expanded to includeEvergreenHealth Monroe – an accredited, full-service 74-bed public hospital district, established in 1960 in Monroe, Washington. EvergreenHealth has clinical and strategic partnerships with several health care entities, includingVirginia Mason, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and dozens of independent practices that are part of the clinically integrated EvergreenHealth Partners network and the Puget Sound High Value Network. In addition to clinical care,EvergreenHealth offers extensive community health outreach and education programs, anchored by the 24/7 EvergreenHealth Nurse Navigator & Healthline.

In 2016, EvergreenHealth achieved its seventh designation (2009-2012, and 2014-2016) as a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence from Healthgrades®, placing it among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide, based on its outstanding clinical performance; and was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics™ in the “Large Community Hospitals” category for outstanding achievements in patient care, operational efficiency and financial strength.

For more information, visit www.evergreenhealth.com.