Baxter Regional Medical Center is proud to announce that it has been recognized as the only Hospital in Arkansas to be named One of Healthgrades® America's 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™ in 2018 and the only Hospital in Arkansas to be named among the Top 5% in the Nation for Patient Safety in 2017! This announcement is according to this year’s evaluation from Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 34 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.*

David Fox, BRMC VP/Chief Operating Officer; Ron Peterson, BRMC President & CEO; Garrett Spry, District Director of Quality Solutions, Healthgrades; Shannon Nachtigal VP/Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer with the Healthgrades® Patient Safety Excellence Award™; Dr. Louis Elkins, cardiovascular surgeon, with the Healthgrades® America's 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™ in 2018 recognition; and Barney Larry, BRMC VP/Business Development and Baxter Regional Hospital Foundation Executive Director.

Garrett Spry, District Director of Quality Solutions, Healthgrades, was on the BRMC campus to present the awards today, stressing that these awards are based on actual patient outcomes of our hospital. This is the fourth consecutive year that BRMC was named One of Healthgrades® America's 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™, as the only hospital in Arkansas to achieve this distinction.

“It is truly an honor to receive this designation, but the affirmation that we’re reducing mortality and complications here in Mountain Home is extremely humbling. We as a team are honored to accept this award,” said Ron Peterson, BRMC President & CEO, while recognizing the physicians in attendance, Dr. Louis Elkins, cardiovascular surgeon, and Dr. Patrick Tobbia, cardiologist, as well as other members of the BRMC Heart Team.

The Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ is a designation that recognizes superior performance in hospitals that have prevented the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays. The distinction places BRMC among the top 5% of hospitals reporting patient safety data in the nation for its excellent performance as evaluated by Healthgrades.

During the 2013-2015 study period, Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:

• 40.0% less likely to experience an accidental puncture or laceration during a procedure, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 44.6% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 54.4% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 50.2% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2013 to 2015, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades. These achievements are part of findings released Healthgrades and are featured in their 2018 Report to the Nation. The report demonstrates how clinical performance continues to differ dramatically between hospitals nationally, regionally and at the local level, and the impact that this variation may have on health outcomes.

“Consumers place high value on information about hospital quality and use it to evaluate their choices for care,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “Hospitals that have achieved recognition for their quality outcomes prove their commitment to their patients and their community at large.”

*For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures, and evaluate outcomes using all-payer data provided by 17 states. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s 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 2018 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.