El Camino Hospital Achieves the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM

-Distinction puts El Camino Hospital in Top Five Percent of Hospitals Nationwide-

El Camino HospitalChris Ernst, 650-962-5853

El Camino Hospital today announced that it was named to Healthgrades top 5 percent of U.S. hospitals based on clinical outcomes across multiple specialties. Of 4,500 U.S. hospitals evaluated, El Camino Hospital is one of 262 – and the only one in Santa Clara County* – to receive the 2013 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence from Healthgrades in its new report,

“Receiving the Distinguished Hospital Award across a broad spectrum of care, validates the quality of care we provide to patients in the Silicon Valley and reassures our communities that El Camino Hospital is a trusted health care provider for all their needs,” said Tomi Ryba, President and CEO of El Camino Hospital. “The award is also a testament to the commitment and dedication of our medical and nursing staffs as well as the entire El Camino Hospital family who impact patients everyday even if not at the bedside.”

In addition to the Distinguished Hospital Award, El Camino Hospital received additional Healthgrades awards across a variety of specialties including orthopedics, neurosciences, pulmonary, gastrointestinal and bariatric and critical care. These include:

The hospitals selected for the 2013 Distinguished Hospitals Award for Clinical Excellence showed superior performance in caring for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective clinical outcomes (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications) across at least 19 of 27 of the most common inpatient conditions and procedures. The data used to assess hospitals’ performances came from Medicare inpatient data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) database.

“Our analysis, unlike other hospital quality ratings or grades, is based solely on clinical outcomes data. We do not include any opinion surveys of doctors or patients, or any other subjective measures because they can lack in objectivity,” said Evan Marks, EVP Informatics and Strategy. “Healthgrades is also the only site that provides the ability to link the selection of a doctor to the hospital where they practice, giving the consumer the power to differentiate the likelihood of a better health outcome on the basis of the hospitals objective quality measures, such as mortality, complications, safety and patient satisfaction.”

*as defined by the Federal Government’s Office of Management and Budget

Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance for nearly 4,500 hospitals across the nation in 28 procedures and conditions annually. Healthgrades.com provides information on objective measures of hospital performance, which allows consumers to compare their local hospitals online at . 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.

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 empowered through 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  and .

El Camino Hospital is an acute-care, 443-bed, nonprofit and locally governed organization with campuses in Mountain View and Los Gatos, Calif. In addition to state-of-the-art emergency departments, key medical specialties include heart and vascular, cancer care, urology, orthopedic and spine, genomic medicine, and the only Women’s Hospital in Northern California. The hospital is recognized as a national leader in the use of health information technology and wireless communications, and has been awarded the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center as well as back-to-back ANCC Magnet Recognitions for Nursing Care.

To learn more, visit our , find us on , follow us on , or view our videos on . For a physician referral, visit our or call the El Camino Health Line at 800-216-5556.