Surgical hospital leads state
By Bill Lawson / Staff Writer / blawson@maumellemonitor.com
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 10:49 AM CST
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| The Arkansas Surgical Hospital, located just off Maumelle Boulevard, continues to be rated one of the state’s top hospitals (Bill Lawson). |
For the second year in a row the Arkansas Surgical Hospital has been rated one of the top hospitals in the state, according to a report released by HealthGrades annual study of hospital quality.
Last year, the Maumelle Boulevard facility ranked a close second to St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, one of the state’s oldest and largest medical facilities, in the number of hip-replacement surgeries performed.
This year it surpassed St. Vincent’s. HealthGrades, an independent health care ratings organization, certified that ASH performed more joint replacements than any other institution and said the complication rate was lower than most.
Again, ASH was in the top five percent in the country for spine surgery and for joint replacement and was ranked a Five-Star Hospital for total knee replacement, total hip replacement, spine surgery, back and neck surgery with and without spinal fusion and was ranked second in Arkansas for spine surgery.
Carrie Helm, chief executive officer for ASH said, “We are so proud to have achieved these ratings again this year, and to be rated as the number-one facility for total joint replacement is a testament to the caliber of physicians and staff working at ASH. This is a significant achievement for our organization.”
HealthGrades found that patients treated at five-star rated hospitals for nine common procedures are 47 percent less likely to experience a major complication, such as post-operative infections or heart conditions, which can lengthen their hospital stay and increase costs.
According to the study, if all Medicare patients had been treated at a top-performing hospital, compared to the lowest-performing hospitals, during 2005-07, more than 123,000 major complications potentially could have been avoided.
In developing its 2009 health care quality ratings HealthGrades said it analyzed more than 41 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2005 to 2007 at the nation’s approximately 5,000 non-federal hospitals.
Hospitals with outcomes that are above average receive a five-star rating. Hospitals with average outcomes receive a three-star rating, and hospitals with outcomes that are below average receive a one-star rating.
On its Web site, www.healthgrades.com, HealthGrades offers consumers free quality ratings of 26 procedures and treatments. The Web site is designed so that consumers can easily compare patient outcomes at their local hospitals for procedures ranging from total knee surgery to cardiac bypass surgery. Each hospital receives a star rating based on its patient outcomes in terms of mortality or complication rates for each procedure or treatment. Complications can include hospital-acquired infections, heart and lung difficulties during or after surgery, and excessive bleeding.
Arkansas Surgical Hospital, which opened in April 2005, is a physician owned facility specializing in orthopedic, spine, cosmetic and breast oncology surgeries, as well as pain management procedures and treatments. Additionally, ASH provides numerous diagnostic tests, including CT, X-Ray and MRI.
