Owensboro Health Receives Healthgrades 2012 Women’s Health Excellence Award 

New Report Finds Owensboro Health in the Nation’s Top 5% for Women’s Health

Owensboro, KY. (June 20, 2012) – Owensboro Health is among the top 5 percent in the nation for excellence in women’s healthcare for the third consecutive year, according to a new report released by HealthGrades, an organization that helps consumers make informed decisions about physicians and hospitals. The study evaluated 16 women’s medicine, cardiovascular, and bone and joint health treatments and procedures over the years 2008, 2009 and 2010, using data from the federal Medicare program. 

Of the 4,783 acute care hospitals in the nation, Owensboro Health and 175 other hospitals were identified as top performers, receiving the 2012 HealthGrades Women’s Health Excellence Award™. Only two hospitals in Kentucky reached this level of clinic achievement—Owensboro Health and St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood. 

Participation in the Women’s Health study was not voluntary; all 4,783 of the nation’s acute care hospitals were evaluated by HealthGrades as part of its HealthGrades 2012 Trends in Women’s Health in American Hospitals report.

Owensboro Health and the 175 other recipients of the HealthGrades Women’s Health Excellence Award had, on average, women’s mortality rates 42 percent lower than the poorest performers across nine diagnoses and procedures, and complication rates were, on average, 14 percent lower than the poorest performing hospitals across seven procedures.

“In our study HealthGrades noted the rate of surgical intervention for women suffering a heart attack has increased over the years. This is good news, especially for patients who choose care at hospitals that are top performers in women’s healthcare,” said Divya Cantor, MD, MBA, senior physician consultant for HealthGrades and author of the study. “Our goal is to provide current, independent data on clinical outcomes to help prospective patients make informed decisions about their providers while also identifying hospitals that are setting national benchmarks to which other hospitals can aspire.”

If all of the nation’s hospitals had patient outcomes among women that at the level of those receiving the Healthgrades award, 39,450 women could have potentially survived their hospitalization and 19,062 women could have potentially avoided a major in-hospital complication.

The HealthGrades study examined hospitalization records from the MedPAR database in all 50 states, for the years 2008 through 2010. The following procedures and treatments were analyzed: heart attack, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, coronary bypass surgery, peripheral vascular bypass, coronary interventional procedures, resection/replacement of abdominal aorta, carotid surgery, and valve replacement; total knee and hip replacement surgeries, spinal surgeries, and hip fracture repair.

To be eligible for the HealthGrades award, 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.

The HealthGrades 2012 Trends in Women’s Health in American Hospitals report, including the methodology, can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.