Penrose-St. Francis Health Services Among Healthgrades

February 18, 2013

News Release
February 19, 2013

Penrose-St. Francis Health Services Among Healthgrades

Americas 50 Best Hospitals

Only Recipient in Colorado, Top 1% in Nation for 6th Consecutive Year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Penrose-St. Francis Health Services announced today that its superior clinical quality has placed it among an elite group of U.S. hospitals: Healthgrades Americas 50 Best Hospitals. This is the sixthconsecutive year(2008-2013) that Penrose-St. Francis has been named by Healthgrades as one of America's 50 Best Hospitals, and it is the only hospital in Colorado to receive the award.

Healthgrades is the leading online resource that helps consumers search, evaluate, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals. This distinction, which was achieved based on clinical performance over seven years, places Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in the top one percent of hospitals nationwide, out of the nearly 4,500 hospitals evaluated.

More and more consumers are turning to the internet to research hospitals and physicians, said Margaret Sabin, president and CEO of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services. Recognitions like this one that evaluate and publicly report outcomes really demonstrate the superior care provided by our team of world-class physicians, associates and volunteers.

According to Healthgrades, if all hospitals lowered their mortality rates to the level of Penrose-St. Francis and the other 49 distinguished members of this group 150,063 lives could have potentially been saved nationwide between 2009 and 2011.

The previously released American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2013: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, highlighted that significant variation in outcomes can exist not only across our nation but specifically within a particular region.

Hospitals earn this distinction by providing better than expected outcomes across a broad spectrum of conditions and procedures and maintaining these superior results over an extended period of time, said Evan Marks, EVP Informatics and Strategy. As such, by selecting a hospital on the Healthgrades Americas 50 Best Hospital list, consumers can expect a commitment to exceptional quality and clinical care that is amongst the best in the nation.

For more information about Healthgrades, to download a full copy of the report or to get information about hospital and physician quality, visit: www.Healthgrades.com today.

About Penrose-St. Francis Health Services:

Penrose-St. Francis Health Services is a full-service, 522-bed acute care facility offering a full complement of emergency, medical and surgical services. Penrose-St. Francis is part of Centura Health, an integrated network which includes 14 hospitals, seven senior living communities, medical clinics, affiliated partner hospitals, Flight For Life Colorado, 13 Colorado Health Neighborhoods and home care and hospice services. More than 15,800 of the best hearts and minds in medicine, along with more than 6,000 physician partners, have access to the most technologically advanced tools available. For consumers, this means the top expertise and technology is right where you need it close to where you are. We reach beyond hospital walls to connect with people at every stage of life; Connections that only Centura Health can make. For more information about Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, visit www.penrosestfrancis.org.

Healthgrades Hospital Quality Distinctions

Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for nearly 4,500 hospitals across the nation in 27 procedures and conditions annually. Healthgrades.com provides information on objective measures of hospital performance, which allows consumers to compare their local hospitals online at www.healthgrades.com/find-a-hospital. Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for nearly every hospital in the nation; no hospital can opt-in or opt-out of being evaluated, and no hospital pays to be evaluated. Mortality and complication rates are risk adjusted, which takes into account the differing severity of illness at different hospitals and allows for hospitals to be compared fairly.

About Healthgrades

Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. More than 225 million visitors use the Healthgrades websites to search, evaluate, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals that best meet their treatment needs.Consumers are empoweredthrough use of the Healthgrades proprietary information about clinical outcomes, satisfaction, safety, and health conditions to make more informed healthcare decisions and take action. For more information please visit www.healthgrades.com.