Boca Raton Regional Hospital Among Top 5% of Hospitals in Nation – Eight Years in a Row
Healthgrades distinction is based on outstanding patient outcomes across 26 medical procedures and diagnoses

BOCA RATON, FL - January 24, 2012 – Boca Raton Regional Hospital announced today that Healthgrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, has named it a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence™ for the eighth year in a row. This prestigious distinction places Boca Raton Regional Hospital among the top 5% of hospitals nationwide for clinical performance.

This latest accolade for Boca Raton Regional Hospital adds to a growing list of honors. In addition to the 2012 Distinguished Hospital Award, the Hospital is also the recipient of Healthgrades 2012 Best 100 Hospitals in the Nation for: Cardiac Care, Stroke Care, Gastrointestinal Care, General Surgery and Prostatectomy in an analysis of patient outcomes at each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals.

Overall, Boca Regional achieved 20 Five-Star Ratings, nine Specialty Excellence Awards and #1 in state rankings for Gastrointestinal Medical Treatment and Overall Gastrointestinal Treatment for 2012.

'This most recent study marks the eighth year in a row that Boca Raton Regional Hospital has received the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence award,' said Jerry J. Fedele, President and CEO of Boca Regional. 'We are proud of the contributions of our physicians, nurses and staff in achieving outstanding patient care. These designations are a testament to the commitment to clinical excellence in patient care we strive to provide day in and day out.'

Healthgrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study, released today, objectively identifies those hospitals with the best overall clinical performance across 26 medical diagnoses and procedures that the organization rates. These 263 top-performing hospitals represent only 5% of the nation’s hospitals and each is designated as a Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence™.

Unlike other hospital quality studies, Healthgrades evaluates hospitals solely on clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications. Healthgrades analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare discharges for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Using these top-performing hospitals as a benchmark in this year’s Healthgrades study, Healthgrades quantifies the impact of differences in hospital quality in terms of lives lost and unexpected complications.

The Healthgrades study found that:

• Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence had a 30.07% lower risk-adjusted mortality rate and a 1.86% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital complication rate among Medicare beneficiaries compared to all other hospitals.
• In fact, if all hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, 165,704 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved and 6,800 Medicare in-hospital complications could potentially have been avoided.