WICHITA – Wesley Medical Center has earned the Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Award for the second consecutive year. The Patient Safety Excellence Award recognizes hospitals that have the lowest occurrences of 14 preventable patient safety events. These hospitals are in the top 10% in the nation for patient safety. Wesley was the only large community hospital in the area to earn this award.
"We work hard every day to make our patients’ safety and experience our highest priority,” said Bill Voloch, Wesley Healthcare president and CEO. “These results prove that Wesley continues to be a top performer not only in Kansas, but nationally as well."
In 2019, only 460 hospitals across the nation achieved the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award, placing them among the top 10 percent of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data. On average, 127,667 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals performed similarly to award recipients on each of the 14 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.
During the study period, Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes for 14 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, as compared to patients at non-recipients hospitals, on average:
- 55.9% less likely to experience an accidental cut, puncture, perforation or hemorrhage during medical care.
- 50.9% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest.
- 64.4% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital.
- 57% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital.
"Consumers are becoming more involved in their own health care and are spending more time researching and selecting the right provider and hospital for their specific needs," said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer for Healthgrades.
"Healthgrades’ Patient Safety Excellence Award highlights the hospitals that are making patient safety and experience a priority and will help patients feel confident to make more informed decisions about their health care."