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FOR THE SECOND YEAR
in a row,
Healthgrades, the leading online
resource for comprehensive information
about physicians and hospitals, has
named Ashtabula County Medical
Center (ACMC) among the Top 10
percent of safest hospitals in the
United States by awarding it the 2016
Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence
Award. Only 466 hospitals across the
nation were recognized for patient
safety. In healthcare, patient safety
refers to the diligence a hospital takes to
minimize errors or negligence during a
medical procedure.
Evidence you can trust
Healthgrades analyzes patient safety
data across 14 indicators as defined by
the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality. Each indicator represents a
serious, potentially preventable safety
event, which puts a patient at risk. This
data includes patient readmission,
complications stemming from medical
and surgical care, and core measures
for heart attack, heart failure and
pneumonia. Some of this data is being
compiled and reviewed for the first time
under the Affordable Care Act.
“Healthgrades once again shows why
our patients and their families should
trust ACMC for their medical care
needs,” said ACMC President and CEO
Michael Habowski. “We have always paid
close attention to the safety measures
ranked by Healthgrades. Providing high-
quality care—and doing so in the safest
possible manner—is our utmost goal.”
Quality care for our community
Healthgrades reviews key areas that
coincide with serious health issues in
Ashtabula County.
For example, ACMC’s Community
Health Needs Assessment shows the
ACMC earns second
Healthgrades award
for
patient safety
leading causes of death
include heart disease
(the No. 1 killer in
Ashtabula County) and
chronic lower respiratory
diseases (such as COPD,
emphysema and chronic
bronchitis).
Healthgrades’ review of patient safety
data showed that patients with heart
failure, COPD, and pneumonia have
better health outcomes when they seek
treatment at hospitals like ACMC.
Healthgrades also recognized that
recipients of the patient safety award
are equally or more likely than
nonrecipient hospitals to have superior
outcomes in specialty areas. For
example, Patient Safety Excellence
Award recipients are 5.1 times more
likely to receive a Specialty Excellence
Award for spinal surgery, 3.4 times
more likely for orthopaedics overall and
2.3 times more likely for pulmonary care
overall.
“Our analysis reveals that patient
safety is strongly associated with high-
quality care, so it is vitally important to
choose a hospital that performs well on
these key indicators,” said Evan Marks,
Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades.
Wendy Foster, Healthgrades Director,
Quality Solutions, said from 2012 to 2014
there were about 270,000 potentially
preventable patient safety events among
Medicare patients throughout the
country.
“If all hospitals, as a group, performed
better than expected, like Ashtabula
County Medical Center has, these
patient safety events could have
potentially been avoided,” she said.
“Through its outstanding performance,
the staff at ACMC is setting the bar for
other hospitals across the region, state
and nation.”
“Patients have
better health
outcomes
when they
seek treatment
at hospitals
like ACMC.”
—Wendy Foster, Healthgrades
Director, Quality Solutions
ACMC Pulse •
www.acmchealth.org11