Healthgrades names Swedish a 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipient

Englewood, Colo. — Swedish Medical Center announced it has been recognized by Healthgrades as a 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipient. This distinction places Swedish among the top five percent of all short-term acute care hospitals as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading marketplace connecting patients and providers. Swedish has received this award each year for the last five years.

“Patient safety has always been a priority, but the last several years have created even more conversation around it and the weight of the responsibility we hold in caring for our patients during their most vulnerable moments,” explains Ryan Tobin, president and chief operating executive at Swedish Medical Center. “I am so proud of all of our colleagues at Swedish who have each kept impeccable standards and commitment to excellence throughout the last five years, as represented by this Healthgrades distinction.”

During the 2018-2021 study period, 164,592 potentially preventable patient safety events occurred among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals.* Healthgrades found that just four patient safety indicators accounted for 74% of all patient safety events: hip fracture due to an in-hospital fall, collapsed lung resulting from a procedure/surgery, pressure or bed sores acquired in the hospital, and catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in-hospital. Healthgrades’ analysis also revealed that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:

• 61.4%% less likely to experience an in-hospital fall resulting in hip fracture, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
• 52.7% less likely to experience a collapsed lung resulting from a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
• 66.1% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
• 67.3% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at nonrecipient hospitals*

When it comes to choosing healthcare, quality saves lives, which is why Healthgrades is committed to delivering the most scientifically accurate and comprehensive information about doctors and hospitals — with data insights not available anywhere else. To that end, it's important for consumers to know that if all hospitals, as a group, performed similarly to the 2023 Patient Safety Award recipients, on average, 95,880 patient safety events could have been avoided.*

“Through our 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Awards, we seek to recognize hospitals that excel in providing top-quality care for their patients while preventing serious injuries during hospital stays,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and head of Data Science, Healthgrades. “We are proud to name Swedish Medical Center as a 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient and look forward to their continued efforts to make patient safety a top priority.”

Consumers can visit healthgrades.com for more information on how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and access the complete methodology.

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 2022.0.1) for MedPAR data years 2019 through 2021 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.