MARRERO, LA – West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC) is one of 466 hospital nationwide to receive Healthgrades’ 2016 Patient Safety Excellence Award. Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, ranked West Jefferson in the top 10 percent of all hospitals evaluated for their excellent performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications.
Hospitals were evaluated based on the occurrence of observed incidents and expected performance for 14 Patient Safety Indicators as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Per Healthgrades, Patient Safety recipients are always equally or more likely than non-recipient hospitals to have superior outcomes in specialty areas. For example, Patient Safety Excellence Award Recipients are 5.1 times more likely to receive a Specialty Excellence Award for spinal surgery; 3.4 times more likely for Orthopedics overall; and 2.3 times more likely for Pulmonary Care overall.
Hospitals that are top performers in patient experience continuously monitor trends in what patients find important as it relates to their overall assessment of a hospital stay.
“West Jefferson is honored to receive this recognition. It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of our physicians, nurses and staff,” said Nancy R. Cassagne, CEO of West Jefferson Medical Center. “Our hospital family believes patient safety is strongly associated with high quality care. So it is a priority for our hospital to continuously strive to deliver the best care possible to all of our patients.”
In 2016, there were more than 400 hospitals across the nation that achieved the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™. The distinction places this elite group of hospitals within the top 10% of all hospitals evaluated for their excellent performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays.
On average, 270,457 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2012 to 2014, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades, as well as zero instances of foreign object left during procedure.
“We applaud all recipients for their accomplishments and organizational commitment to delivering high-quality care, reducing patient safety events and providing a safe and positive experience for patients during their hospital stay,” said Evan Marks, Healthgrades’ Chief Strategy Officer.
Founded in 1956, WJMC is a 435-bed community hospital that operate as a full service medical center. WJMC offers comprehensive programs for preventive, emergency, acute and rehabilitative care with a medical staff of more than 400 physicians and a complement of 1,700 employees and many volunteers. The medical center enjoys national awards for clinical excellence across many of its subspecialties. WJMC is a proud member of LCMC Health, a Louisiana-based, not-for-profit hospital system serving the healthcare needs of the Gulf Coast region. LCMC Health currently manages award-winning community hospitals including Children’s Hospital, Touro, New Orleans East Hospital, University Medical Center New Orleans and West Jefferson Medical Center.
