Healthgrades announced the 260 recipients of the 2016 Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award. These hospitals are among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation that deliver high quality care across at least 21 of 32 common inpatient conditions and procedures, as evaluated by Healthgrades. During the 2016 study period (inpatient stays from 2012-2014), Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 26.5% lower risk adjusted in-hospital mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions where mortality was the clinical outcome, compared to all other hospitals.
In a related report Healthgrades studied differentiating factors for how recipient hospitals are performing and found that this year’s Distinguished Hospital recipients outperform in their treatment of sepsis specifically. While the incidence of sepsis is increasing nationwide, a surprising finding emerged when Healthgrades reviewed DHACE recipient performance over the three-years evaluated . While all other cohort performance remained relatively stable, the performance in treating sepsis improved. Remarkably, the hospitals who had already demonstrated a measurable difference in performance compared to non-recipients also saw improved performance in this one cohort. This means that these hospitals not only saw an increase in the volume of sepsis cases, but also a decrease in risk-adjusted mortality for sepsis. The care teams at these hospitals are outperforming in treating an incredibly difficult condition in the midst of an increasing number of cases.