National Study: St. Thomas More Hospital is a Healthgrades Five-Star Recipient for Gallbladder Surgery and Total Knee Replacement

October 27, 2015

(Canon City, Colo.) St. Thomas More Hospital (STMH) has received 5 stars for the quality of its gallbladder surgery two years in a row (2015-2016) and total knee replacement for five years in a row (2012-2016) from Healthgrades, the leading online resource helping consumers make informed decisions in order to find the right doctor, the right hospital, and the right care. This achievement is part of new findings and data released earlier this month on Healthgrades.com and in the Healthgrades 2016 Report to the Nation. Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 33 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.

The new report demonstrates how clinical performance continues to differ dramatically between hospitals both nationally and regionally. This variation in care has a significant impact on health outcomes. For example, from 2012 through 2014, if all hospitals as a group, performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5 stars as a group, on average 222,392 lives could potentially have been saved and 166,086 complications could potentially have been avoided.* A 5-star rating indicates that STMHs clinical outcomes are statistically significantly better than expected when treating the condition or performing the procedure being evaluated.

Were so proud to have earned these Healthgrades awards that support our efforts to provide safe, high quality patient care in Fremont County and surrounding communities, said Sheri Trahern, C.P.A., M.B.A., F.A.C.H.E., STMHs Chief Executive Officer. Im especially proud that we continue to provide patients with outstanding clinical outcomes, right here in our community. I congratulate all of our physicians and health care providers because these awards are a direct result of their dedication to providing quality, compassionate care.

Dr. Jacob Patterson who has served the orthopaedic needs in our community for nearly 25 years, recently joined the St. Thomas More Physician Group. Dr. Patterson is proud of the total knee replacement award.

I have performed over 2,000 total knee replacement procedures in almost 25 years in our community, said Patterson. This award is the result of the consistency in positive outcomes for our patients over the years, largely due to the team work involved. All of the health professionals in our orthopaedic clinic and at the hospital including the operating room, anesthesia, medical/surgical nursing floor, physical therapists, home health, care coordinators and nurse navigators work together to ensure the best outcomes possible for our patients. It is very impressive.

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, and assessed hospital performance relative to each of 33 common conditions and procedures. Healthgrades recognizes a hospitals quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5 star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3 star (not statistically different from expected), and 1 star (statistically significantly worse than expected) categories. The complete Healthgrades 2016 Report to the Nation with detailed cohort-specific outcomes data, hospital-specific quality achievements, and detailed study methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.

*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2012 through 2014 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

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About St. Thomas More Hospital
St. Thomas More Hospital, a not-for-profit acute care facility, is the cornerstone of health care services for Fremont County and surrounding communities. Hospital services include 24-hour emergency and trauma services with physicians who are board certified in emergency medicine, Centura Health Urgent Care Canon City, long-term care at Progressive Care Center, inpatient acute care, Intensive Care Unit, The Birth Center, diagnostic imaging, surgical services, rehabilitation services, sleep disorder center, wound care and more. The St. Thomas More Physician Group features The Medical Home/Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatric Health Services, Obstetrics/Gynecology, General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and the Ear, Nose, Throat & Allergy Clinic. St. Thomas More Hospital is supported by Centura Health, the regions leading health care network. For more information, visit www.stmhospital.org.

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