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UMMC earns 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award, in top 10 percent of short-term acute care hospitals

By Billie Owens

Press release:

United Memorial Medical Center, of Rochester Regional Health, in Batavia announced today that it is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence AwardTM.

This distinction places United Memorial Medical Center among the top 10 percent of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals.

“We’re bringing the same level of care you would expect in a big city hospital here to Batavia,” said United Memorial Medical Center President Dan Ireland. “Our patients deserve to have great care close to home.”

During the study period (2015 to 2017), 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 (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) 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 percent less likely to experience an accidental cut, puncture, perforation or hemorrhage during medical care.
  • 50.9 percent less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest.
  • 64.4 percent less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital.
  • 57 percent less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital.

In addition, if all hospitals in the country performed at the level of award recipients for each of the 14 Patient Safety Indicators, 127,667 patient safety events could have been avoided.*

“We are proud to recognize the recipients of the 2019 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award, which shines a spotlight on the hospitals that are preventing the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications, for patients during their hospital stay,” said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer, Healthgrades. “We applaud these hospitals and their commitment to providing the best possible care for every patient.” 

Two UMMC service lines received the Healthgrades five-star rating for 2019.

  • Orthopaedics, for the total hip replacement program
  • Gastrointestinal, for treatment of gastrointestinal bleed

“Awards and accolades like these are meaningful because they are a reflection of United Memorial Medical Center’s and Rochester Regional Health’s commitment to constant improvement,” Ireland added.

“Throughout the entire region, our health system has an ongoing commitment to improving quality and safety. We share expertise and best practices with each other so all of our patients can benefit.”

View Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies.

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 5e and 2018) to MedPAR data for years 2015 through 2017 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

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