Saint Luke’s Hospital Among Top Five Percent Nationally for Patient Safety
Medicare patients treated at Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety are 40 percent less likely to have an adverse, preventable event compared with poorest-performing hospitals. Saint Luke’s Hospital today announced that it has been named in an independent national research study as a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety™, according to HealthGrades health care ratings company. This distinction reflects Saint Luke’s Hospital’s performance among the top five percent nationally for patient safety outcomes, according to HealthGrades. Saint Luke’s Hospital is one of only 242 hospitals out of nearly 5,000 to receive this recognition. It has received this distinction for three years running. In its Fourth Annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study, HealthGrades independently analyzed nearly 40 million Medicare patient records from federal fiscal years 2003 to 2005 using 13 patient safety indicators developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  Saint Luke’s Hospital was one of only 113 teaching hospitals to win this honor—and the only Kansas City-area teaching hospital to be honored.