Mountain View, CA - June 30, 2009 - El Camino Hospital has received the 2009/2010 HealthGrades Specialty Excellence Award for Women's Health, the only hospital in Northern California to receive this recognition for women's health quality outcomes four years in a row.
The Sixth Annual HealthGrades Women’s Health in American Hospitals study released today employed a new methodology, expanding the number and type of in-hospital procedures/diagnoses for women's health that were analyzed for patient outcomes to a total of 16 in three areas: women’s medicine (heart attack, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke); women’s cardiovascular procedures (coronary bypass surgery, peripheral vascular bypass, coronary interventional procedures, resection/replacement of abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid surgery, and valve replacement); and women’s bone & joint health (total knee and total hip replacement surgeries, spinal surgeries, and hip fracture repair).
"El Camino Hospital takes particular pride in this recognition," said Michele van Zuiden, executive director of the Women's Hospital at El Camino Hospital. "Both the hospital and its service lines are designed and staffed to meet the unique needs and preferences of women, who represent 65 percent of patients who receive care at El Camino Hospital. Our commitment has been to make this one of the premier women’s hospitals, not just in California, but also the United States. This award is recognition of our progress toward that goal."
The HealthGrades study documents the significant benefits of receiving the high-quality care found at the highest performing hospitals identified in the study; far fewer avoidable deaths and complications. In fact, from 2005 through 2007, HealthGrades estimated that 18,089 women’s lives could have potentially been saved and 6,849 complications could have been avoided if all the hospitals studied performed at the level of the top 5 percent. The vast majority of potentially preventable deaths (82 percent) were associated with the treatment of just four diagnoses: pneumonia, stroke, heart failure and heart attack.
In the study, HealthGrades analyzed more than 2.6 million hospitalizations using Medicare data from all 50 states from 2005 through 2007. To be included in the analysis, hospitals had to have an open-heart program and treat significant numbers of women for stroke. Hospitals also had to have a significant patient population in at least six additional cohorts from all areas (pulmonary, cardiac, vascular, orthopedics and spine).
The study, along with HealthGrades’ individual hospital ratings, can be viewed for free at www.HealthGrades.com.
About El Camino Hospital
El Camino Hospital, ranked among the top five percent of hospitals nationwide for clinical excellence by HealthGrades, is a 542-bed acute care, not-for-profit and District-owned organization with campuses in Mountain View and Los Gatos, California. Key medical specialty focuses include cancer care, heart and vascular, neuroscience, genomic medicine, orthopedic and spine and a women’s hospital.
Long considered a leader in women's services, El Camino Hospital launched the Women's Hospital late last year. With a free-standing, three-story maternal child health pavilion as its centerpiece, the Women's Hospital at El Camino Hospital encompasses not only prenatal, maternity and neonatal services, but also a comprehensive range of clinical services focused on the health needs of women throughout their lifetimes.
The preferred maternity hospital in the region by a factor of three to one over other local facilities, it ranked first in California for the second year in a row for the percentage of women who begin breastfeeding after birth (97 percent). The hospital recently joined the Spirit of Women Network, an integrated partnership of hospitals and healthcare systems across the country that aim to drive health action for women and their families through education, advocacy and sharing of best practices.
El Camino Hospital recently received a gold medal from Bay Area Parent magazine as the "Best Hospital or Medical Center."