Lake Huron Medical Center announced today that it is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence AwardTM. This distinction places Lake Huron Medical Center among the top 5% 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.

According to the report, patients rated their overall experience at Lake Huron Medical Center 5% higher than the national average. Patient experience measures tell how patients felt about the care they received at the hospital. These measures are based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Lake Huron Medical Center is a member of Prime Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest hospital systems with 45 hospitals in 14 states. Prime Healthcare has more Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients for four consecutive years (2016-2019) than any other health system in the country.

“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.”

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).

“Lake Huron Medical Center has been at the heart of our community for more than 60 years, working to build trust and improve the health of our community,” commented Jay de los Reyes, Chief Executive Officer, Lake Huron Medical Center. “Providing high-quality, compassionate, comprehensive and cost-effective health care to the mind, body, and spirit of all those who walk through our doors is not just something we say; it’s what we do.”

Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, as compared to patients at non-recipient 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.

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.*

*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 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.