National study ranks St. Francis among nation’s best in patient outcomes

Beech Grove ortho, gastrointestinal care rank high; Mooresville joint surgery 'best' in state again

INDIANAPOLIS – St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers today (Oct. 14) announced that its Beech Grove and Mooresville Hospitals have been ranked among the top 10 percent in the nation for joint replacement surgery.

That’s the assessment of an extensive study conducted by HealthGrades, one of the nation’s leading health care rating companies.

St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville again has been ranked best in Indiana for joint replacement surgery. This marks the third year in a row the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery has achieved this.

St. Francis-Beech Grove is the best rated hospital in the Indianapolis area for overall orthopedic care. Both hospitals achieved the 2009 HealthGrades Joint Replacement Surgery Excellence Award™.

Additionally, Beech Grove achieved a five-star for gastrointestinal (GI) surgery and procedures and the Indianapolis facility attained five-star ratings for care of GI bleeds and bowel obstructions.

“St. Francis physicians, nurses and support staff continually work to improve clinical processes while using their extensive knowledge, experience and skills to ensure better outcomes and superior care for our patients,” said Robert. J. Brody, president and chief executive officer of St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers. “We’re pleased their efforts have been honored at this national level.”

“The HealthGrades recognition reflects the culture of care and the quality of service we provide to those we serve,” added Alan Gillespie, M.D., St. Francis’ chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs.

Mooresville joint surgery continues long record of success
Mooresville has been five-star rated for joint surgery nine years in a row by HealthGrades.

“Certainly it is a wonderful achievement and I believe it underscores our commitment to deliver premier orthopedic care at St. Francis and the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery,” said Jared Stark, executive director of St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville.

“Our team of surgeons, physicians, nurses, therapists and other staff continually seeks new ways to help people live more active lives – and with less pain,” added John B. Meding, M.D., president of St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville’s medical staff. “We offer the most state of the art surgery, less invasive techniques, the most modern implants such as proven total hip and knee devices, hip resurfacing, and partial knee replacements. For more than 20 years we have documented long term implant success in more than 20,000 patients. We are committed to compassionate and the highest quality of care available for all patients.”

Meding is a surgeon with Indiana Joint Replacement Surgeons, a practice group whose Center for Hip & Knee Surgery is affiliated with the Mooresville hospital.

HealthGrades 2009 National Study
As part of the nation’s most comprehensive, independent analysis of hospital quality, 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 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that funds medical and surgical care for the majority of hospital patients, announced that it would discontinue payments for many major inhospital complications, including surgery on the wrong body part and post-operative infection or disability due to a contaminated implantation device. This further demonstrates the importance of researching for and utilizing the best care available.

In developing its 2009 healthcare quality ratings, released today, HealthGrades analyzed more than 41 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2005 to 2007 at the nation’s approximately 5,000 non-federal hospitals.

On its Web site, www.healthgrades.com, HealthGrades offers consumers free quality ratings of 27 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.