A HealthGrades study of hospital quality has identified Piedmont Medical Center among the top 10 percent in the nation for Pulmonary Care for the third year in a row.

According to The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, Piedmont Medical Center also achieved the following:  

• Recipient of the HealthGrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ (three years in a row)
• Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services (three years in a row)
• Ranked Among the Top 3 in SC (#2) for Overall Pulmonary Services (three years in a row)
• Five-Star Rated for Overall Pulmonary Services (three years in a row)  
• Received the Highest Possible Star Ratings for Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (four years in a row)  

Commitment to quality

“Delivering care that meets the exceptional national standards set by HealthGrades is hard evidence of the commitment of Piedmont Medical Center, the physicians on our medical staff, and our employees who take care of our patients,” said Charlie Miller, Piedmont president and chief executive officer. “We have no higher priority at Piedmont than delivering quality care to the patients we serve, and this recognition from HealthGrades is a testament to that.”  

Patients admitted to the nation’s top-performing hospitals, five-star hospitals like Piedmont Medical Center, have on average a 71 percent lower chance of dying, than those treated at one-star hospitals, across 18 procedures and conditions, according to a study released today by HealthGrades. HealthGrades is the nation’s leading independent ratings company.  

 “Our research shows that while the overall quality of hospital care in America is improving, the gap between the best-performing hospitals and the worst persists,” said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades’ chief medical officer and author of the study. “This persistent gap makes it imperative that anyone planning to be admitted to a hospital do their homework and seek out highly rated facilities.”

Key findings in HealthGrades study nationally The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study identifies key trends in the quality of care provided by approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide. HealthGrades researchers analyzed Medicare discharges from every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006.

Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates were calculated and hospitals were assigned a 1-star (poor), 3-star (as expected), or 5-star (best) quality rating for 28 diagnoses and procedures from heart failure to hip replacement to pneumonia. Individual hospital quality results from this study are available at www.healthgrades.com.  

Among the study’s key findings:  

• Gaps persist between the “best” and the “worst” hospitals across all procedures and conditions studied. Five-star rated hospitals, such as Piedmont Medical Center had significantly lower risk-adjusted mortality across all three years studied.  

 • Across all procedures and conditions studied, there was an approximate 71 percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to a 1-star rated hospital.  

 • Across all procedures and conditions studied, there was an approximate 52 percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to the U.S. hospital average.  

The 2008 HealthGrades ratings for all hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the organization’s award-winning consumer Web site, located at www.healthgrades.com.  More than three million individuals and employees of some of the nation’s largest employers and health plans visit HealthGrades each month to access quality information about hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. HealthGrades also provides consumers and payers with detailed assessments of hospitals’ patient-safety outcomes, based on indicators developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and quality.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ###    

HealthGrades (Nasdaq:HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings company, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians to consumers, corporations, health plans and hospitals. Millions of consumers and hundreds of the nation’s largest employers, health plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades’ independent ratings to make healthcare decisions based on the quality of care. More information on the company can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.