Healthgrades Distinction Puts St. Bernardine in Top Five Percent of Hospitals Nationwide

For the second consecutive year, St. Bernardine Medical Center was recognized by Healthgrades®, the leading provider of comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. On January 21, Healthgrades announced that St. Bernardine received the 2014 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence®. This prestigious distinction places the hospital among the nation’s top five percent of more than 4,500 hospitals for its overall clinical performance. “Providing the highest quality patient care in a safe and comfortable setting is our number one priority,” said Steven R. Barron, Dignity Health senior vice president of operations, Southern California East, and president, St. Bernardine Medical Center. “This level of achievement comes as a result of a true commitment on the part of our elite team. I am extremely proud of our highly skilled and dedicated nurses and staff and of the exceptional care our team of affiliated physicians provides to our patients each and every day.” St. Bernardine Medical Center is one of only 260 award recipients nationwide. According to Healthgrades, what differentiates Distinguished Hospital Award recipients, like St. Bernardine, is that they demonstrate clinical excellence across a broad spectrum of care. "It’s great to be recognized as a leader in quality patient care, but it’s not the recognition that counts. It’s the difference it makes in the lives of our patients,” Barron added. From 2010 through 2012, Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence as a group had an overall 26.4 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions compared to all other hospitals. “Recipients of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence have demonstrated better than expected quality care. For patients undergoing treatment for select common conditions and procedures at these hospitals, this translates to a statistically significant lower likelihood of death or experiencing complications when compared to the rest of American hospitals,” said Evan Marks, Healthgrades EVP Informatics and Strategy. To learn more about how Healthgrades determines Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence recipients, visit: http://www.healthgrades.com/quality.