[Providence] – The Joint Commission, the nonprofit organization that surveys and accredits the nation’s hospitals, today named three Providence Southern California medical centers to its list of the top performing hospitals in the United States.

Providence Holy Cross and Providence Saint Joseph medical centers in the San Fernando Valley and Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance were included among The Joint Commission’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures, recognizing America’s top 620 hospitals that treat critically ill patients.

These hospitals, the top 18 percent in the nation, were awarded for excellence in applying evidence-based clinical processes in treating heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and children’s asthma and for patients who undergo surgery.

“What this means is that every patient at these three Providence ministries is being treated according to a set of core measures that have proven to save lives. This sounds simple but it takes great knowledge, dedication and teamwork by our physicians, nurses and other clinicians, often in situations where seconds count,” said Michael Hunn, senior vice president and chief executive of Providence Health & Services, Southern California.

The Joint Commission’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures ratings program began in 2011 and this year recognizes the top 18 percent of accredited hospitals. Today’s announcement came as the organization delivered its annual report.

The Top Performers program is based on data reported by hospitals regarding clinical processes proven to be the best treatment for certain conditions.

According to The Joint Commission, patients expect and deserve excellent care and all hospitals work to achieve it. But it is challenging to consistently demonstrate excellent performance. Excellence is among the Providence core values and hospitals within the five-state healthcare system share best practices to make sure protocols that result in the best possible outcomes for patients become the standard.

“When we raise the bar and provide the proper guidance and tools, hospitals have responded with excellent results,” says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., president of The Joint Commission. “This capacity for continual improvement points toward a future in which quality and safety defects are dramatically reduced and high reliability is sought and achieved with regularity. Such day-to-day progress will slowly but surely transform today’s healthcare system into one that achieves unprecedented performance outcomes for the benefit of the patients.”

About Providence Health & Services, Southern California

Providence Health & Services, Southern California, is a Catholic, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing quality and compassionate health care and reaching out to the poor and the vulnerable in the communities it serves. Providence Southern California operates five acute care medical centers in the Los Angeles area: Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Providence Tarzana Medical Center and Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers in Torrance and San Pedro. The region also has numerous ancillary facilities including Hospice care, long-term care, numerous outpatient clinics and a high school. For more information, visit http://providence.org.