[Providence] – All three Providence medical centers in the San Fernando Valley were named among the top 5 percent of nation’s hospitals for quality and awarded Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence.

Healthgrades, a top consumer ratings company, awarded this distinction to hospitals that rank among the top 5 percent of more than 4,500 hospitals evaluated nationwide for outstanding clinical performance on at least 21 of 32 of the most common diagnoses and procedures. The results mean better outcomes for seriously ill patients.

This is the fourth year for Providence Tarzana Medical Center and the third for Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills and Providence Saint Joseph in Burbank. The three were among the 260 medical centers in the U.S. recognized with this prestigious award.

“Our goal every day is to provide our patients with the best possible care in the tradition of our founding Sisters of Providence. We’re very fortunate to have many of the best physicians, nurses and other caregivers who continuously live up to that tradition of excellence and compassion,” said Dale Surowitz, a long-time Valley resident and chief executive of Providence Tarzana. “We are proud to be recognized by Healthgrades for our successes and honored to be named among the nation’s best.”

From 2012 through 2014, Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 26.5 percent lower risk adjusted in-hospital mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions where mortality was the clinical outcome, compared to all other hospitals. During this same period, if all other hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence across these 19 procedures and conditions, 158,858 lives could potentially have been saved. For example, patients treated at a hospital that achieved the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award had, on average, a 25.5 percent lower risk of dying from a stroke than if treated at a hospital that did not achieve this distinction.

Variation in hospital performance exists locally as well as nationally. For example, of the 79 hospitals evaluated in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area for treatment of heart attack, risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rates ranged from 1.7 percent on the low end to 13.1 percent on the high end, which is more than a seven-fold difference in mortality rates.

“Unfortunately, not all hospitals perform equally when it comes to clinical outcomes, so it’s important that consumers do their research in order to find the right care,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades. “We commend those hospitals that have achieved Healthgrades 2016 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for demonstrating an unwavering commitment to high quality care to accomplish these results.”

The 260 recipients of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ stand out among the rest for overall clinical excellence across a broad spectrum of care. During the 2016 study period (2012-2014), these hospitals showed superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients in the Medicare population across at least 21 of 32 of the most common inpatient conditions and procedures —as measured by objective clinical outcomes performance data (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications). To learn more about how Healthgrades determines Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ recipients, please visit www.healthgrades.com/quality.

About Providence Health & Services:
Providence Health & Services, Southern California, is a Catholic not-for-profit, mission-driven healthcare system. Providence Southern California operates five award-winning hospitals and a comprehensive, fully-integrated network of primary care clinics, urgent care centers, home care, TrinityCare and TrinityKids Care hospice as well as Providence High School. Providence is anchored locally by Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Providence Tarzana Medical Center and Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers in Torrance and San Pedro. With more than 3,400 physicians, Providence provides coordinated primary and specialty care through an array of physician groups and individual providers including Providence Medical Institute and physician groups in the South Bay, the West Valley and Santa Clarita. Providence affiliate, Facey Medical Group, provides primary and specialized care in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys. For more information, visit California.providence.org.

About Healthgrades
Healthgrades headquartered in Denver, Colo., the leading online source of comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. More than 200 million consumers 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 www.healthgrades.com and www.bettermedicine.com.