Healthgrades names Palomar Health one of nation's 100 best hospitals for joint replacement, orthopedic surgery and spine surgery

ESCONDIDO – Palomar Health was named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Joint Replacement, Orthopedic Surgery and Spine Surgery according to a national study by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals. The study also ranked Palomar Health among the top 10% in the nation for Stroke Care and Pulmonary Services. Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 32 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.

The findings were released in the Healthgrades 2020 Report to the Nation. The report demonstrates the importance of hospital quality to both hospital leaders and consumers. For example, from 2016 through 2018, patients treated at hospitals receiving the Pulmonary Care Specialty Excellence Award had, on average, a 47.9% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award. During the same time period, patients treated at hospitals receiving the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Joint Replacement Award had, on average, a 62.5% lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.

“As consumers navigate their health, it is important to consider a number of factors, including hospital quality, before deciding where to access care,” Dr. Brad Bowman, chief medical officer at Healthgrades, said. “As consumers are increasingly savvy when it comes to finding and selecting a hospital, patients can be confident when they select a hospital that has achieved this Healthgrades recognition.”

“These findings show Palomar Health provides some of the best patient care in the country, not just Southern California, and we’re committed to delivering this care to more people in more places close to home,” Palomar Health President and CEO Diane Hansen said.

Palomar Health recently opened a new outpatient center to deliver state-of-the-art cancer treatment, broke ground on a new acute rehabilitation facility and announced it has executed a letter of intent to negotiate an affiliation agreement between the two entities that would integrate Graybill Medical Group into Palomar Health.

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures and evaluated outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 15 states. 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 which designates the performance is statistically significantly better than expected, 3-star which designates the performance is not statistically different from expected and 1-star which is designates the performance is statistically significantly worse than expected. The complete Healthgrades 2020 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology can be found at https://partners.healthgrades.com/healthgrades-quality-solutions/healthgrades-quality-awards.

Submitted by Palomar Health.