Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, today announced the 260 recipients of the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award. These hospitals are among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation that deliver high quality care across at least 21 of 32 common inpatient conditions and procedures, as evaluated by Healthgrades.

During the 2016 study period (inpatient stays from 2012-2014), Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 26.5% lower risk adjusted in-hospital mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions where mortality was the clinical outcome, compared to all other hospitals. During this same period, if all other hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence across these 19 procedures and conditions, 158,858 lives could potentially have been saved. For example, patients treated at a hospital that achieved the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award had, on average, a 32.0% lower risk of dying from heart failure than if treated at a hospital that did not receive this distinction.

“The Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence recipients clearly place a premium on producing great clinical outcomes and stand out from their peers in their overall clinical performance. We commend these hospitals for their well deserved achievements,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades.

Major Differences in Improvement in Treating Sepsis for Distinguished Hospital Recipients

In a related report, issued today, Healthgrades studied differentiating factors for how recipient hospitals are performing and found that this year’s Distinguished Hospital recipients outperform in their treatment of sepsis specifically.

While the incidence of sepsis is increasing nationwide, a surprising finding emerged when Healthgrades reviewed DHACE recipient performance over the three-years evaluated . While all other cohort performance remained relatively stable, the performance in treating sepsis improved. Remarkably, the hospitals who had already demonstrated a measurable difference in performance compared to non-recipients also saw improved performance in this one cohort. This means that these hospitals not only saw an increase in the volume of sepsis cases, but also a decrease in risk-adjusted mortality for sepsis. The care teams at these hospitals are outperforming in treating an incredibly difficult condition in the midst of an increasing number of cases.

Continued Mr. Marks: “Our findings are significant given the rise of sepsis, the associated high rates of mortality as well as the economic costs related to identifying and treating this life threatening condition. Furthermore, our analysis showed that improvement in the treatment of sepsis observed at DHACE recipient hospitals was significantly related to improved quality outcomes in treating other emergent hospital cohorts, such as heart failure, COPD, pneumonia, stroke and respiratory failure.”

To learn more about how Healthgrades determines Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ recipients, please visit www.healthgrades.com/quality. To access our hospital quality methodologies, please see Healthgrades Mortality and Complications Outcomes 2016 Methodology and Healthgrades MedPAR-based Awards 2016 Methodology.

About Healthgrades

Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Today, more than one million people a day use the Healthgrades websites to search, compare and connect with hospitals and physicians based on the most important measures when selecting a healthcare provider: experience, hospital quality and patient satisfaction. For more information about Healthgrades, visit http://www.healthgrades.com or download the Healthgrades iPhone app.