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HealthGrades Names Beebe Medical Center One of America's 100 BEST Hospitals for Orthopedics, Joint Replacement, and Spine Surgery

10/24/11

"Beebe Medical Center, while not a big-city hospital, has developed a big-city expertise when it comes to orthopedic surgery. The Medical Center has eleven (11) experienced orthopedic surgeons on its Medical Staff who perform innovative and minimally invasive surgeries, utilize the latest technologies, and work with a hospital team of dedicated professionals who not only provide excellent care, but who also understand the importance of outstanding service and attention to individual needs.

HealthGrades, the nation's leading, independent source of physician information and hospital quality ratings, has named Beebe Medical Center one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedics, Joint Replacement, and Spine Surgery for 2012.

For the sixth year in a row, HealthGrades, basing its rankings on Medicare-tabulated patient outcomes, named Beebe Medical Center the Best on all of the Delmarva Peninsula for Orthopedics, Joint Replacement and Spine Surgery.

It also gave Beebe Medical Center seven, 5-star ratings for orthopedic surgeries, noting that patients treated at 5-star-rated hospitals experience a 73% lower risk of mortality and a 63% lower risk of complications compared to 1-star-rated hospitals.

This is truly an honor for our surgeons, our staff members, and for Beebe Medical Center, said Jeffery M. Fried, Beebe Medical Center President and CEO. These multiple ratings reflect the hard work and dedication to quality, not only by our orthopedic surgeons and specialized nurses and technicians, but by every member of the Beebe team who works in our operating rooms, our labs, our imaging centers, our physical rehab facilities -- everyone who supports the care and treatment of these patients.

Beebe Medical Center's comprehensive orthopedic program includes pre-surgery education classes for patients undergoing joint replacement and physical therapy programs following surgery. It also offers education for patients undergoing spinal surgery. The hospital has a dedicated unit on the third floor with 29 patient rooms for orthopedic surgery patients and uses the latest in healthcare technologies to ensure for optimum patient recovery. The unit also has a dedicated wing for joint replacement patients. Last year Beebe Medical Center orthopaedic surgeons performed over 1,000 operations including 500 knee procedures, 350 hip procedures and 350 spinal procedures.

Patients today have a wide array options when it comes to choosing a healthcare provider, said Kerry Hicks, HealthGrades chief executive officer. At HealthGrades, we are proud to have led the way for empowering patient choice based on objective clinical outcomes and access to actionable quality measures. We commend Beebe Medical Center for its superior quality and support of consumerism and transparency.

HealthGrades Hospital Quality Ratings
HealthGrades rates hospitals independently based on data that hospitals submit to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated.

For 26 procedures and medical treatments, HealthGrades issues star ratings that reflect the mortality and complication rates for each category of care. Hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have mortality or complication rates that are below the national average, to a statistically significant degree. A 3-star rating means the hospital performs as expected. One-star ratings indicate the hospital's mortality or complication rates in that procedure or treatment are statistically higher than average. Because the risk profiles of patient populations at hospitals are not alike, HealthGrades risk-adjusts the data to allow for equal comparisons.

Key findings of the HealthGrades 2011 Healthcare Consumerism and Hospital Quality in America report include:

" Patients had, on average a 73% lower risk of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to a 1-star rated hospital, and a 54% lower risk of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to the national average.

" Patients had, on average, were 63% less likely to experience inhospital complications than patients at 1-star programs, and had a 43% lower chance of developing an inhospital complication than the national average.

" If all Medicare patients from 2008 through 2010 had been treated at 5-star hospitals, 240,040 lives could have potentially been saved.

" If all Medicare patients from 2008 through 2010 had gone to 5-star hospitals for their procedure, 164,472 inhospital complications could have potentially been avoided.


About HealthGrades
HealthGrades is America's most trusted, independent source of physician information and hospital quality outcomes. HealthGrades online properties are the nation's leading destination for physician search and empower more than 170 million consumers annually to make informed healthcare decisions.

Beebe Medical Center
Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org

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