Contact:
Michelle Aliprantis, MBA
Regional Director of Business Development, Marketing and Communications | PA Region
Roxborough Memorial Hospital, Suburban Community Hospital, and Lower Bucks Hospital
T: (215) 785-9817
LOWER BUCKS HOSPITAL IS HEALTHGRADES FIVE-STAR RECIPIENT FOR APPENDECTOMIES AND CRITICAL CARE
Bristol, PA (October 20, 2020) – Lower Bucks Hospital announced today that it has received 5-Star ratings for the treatment of appendectomies and critical care from Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.
Lower Bucks Hospital, which was previously named by Healthgrades among the top 10 percent in the nation for patient safety, is a member of Prime Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest health systems with 46 hospitals in 14 states. This year, Prime hospitals received a combined 295 awards from Healthgrades including 5-Star designations, Specialty Excellence Awards and America’s 100 Best By Specialty.
Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 32 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions using Medicare data, and additional analyzes outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 16 states.
“We are extremely proud to be a 5-star hospital for the treatment of appendectomies and critical care,” said Ronak Bhimani, chief medical officer of Lower Bucks Hospital. “This national recognition is a testament to the commitment of entire team to quality outcomes, patient safety and clinical excellence.”
This analysis shows that patients treated at hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have a lower risk of dying and a lower risk of experiencing one or more complications during a hospital stay than if they were treated at hospitals receiving a 1-star rating in that procedure or condition. From 2017 through 2019, if all hospitals as a group performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average, 218,785 lives could potentially have been saved and complications in 148,681 patients could potentially have been avoided.*
“Since Lower Bucks Hospital was acquired by Prime Healthcare in 2012, the hospital has been closely monitoring Patient Safety Indicators (PSI), such as postoperative procedures, hemorrhage rate, and death rate in-low mortality diagnosis, Bhimani said, adding that Lower Bucks Hospital’s clinical documentation specialist monitors cases daily to ensure the hospital achieves its goal of zero occurrences of PSI.”
“Hospital quality has never been more important, and consumers are becoming more aware of the importance of researching where they receive care before they visit a hospital for a specific procedure or condition,” said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer at Healthgrades. “Hospitals that receive a Healthgrades 5-star rating for appendectomies and critical care demonstrate exceptional outcomes and their ability to provide quality care for patients.”
Lower Bucks Hospital was also recognized for the following clinical achievements:
American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for quality of Stroke Care Award 2018-2020, Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award 2020, Five-Star Recipient for Appendectomy for 5 Years in a row (2015-2020), Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Sepsis for 3 years in row (2018-2020), Recipient of the Healthgrades (2018- 2020) Patient Safety Excellence Award, Named Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Patient Safety in 2018 & 2020, Corazon, Inc. the cardiovascular specialty accreditation to the PCI program, 2019 & 2020, and American Heart Association Award Type 2 Honor Roll Award 2020
Bhimani added, “Our team of highly skilled care providers at Lower Bucks Hospital work hard to provide compassionate and high-value care care to our patients everyday. This recognition is a testament of our impeccable teamwork and unwavering advocacy for patient safety and quality at Lower Bucks Hospital.”
For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures, and evaluated outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 16 states. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected). The complete Healthgrades 2021 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology, can be found at https://partners.healthgrades.com/healthgrades-quality-solutions/healthgrades-quality-awards/.
About Lower Bucks Hospital:
Lower Bucks Hospital is a community hospital, serving the Lower Bucks County region with medical, surgical, and emergency care. Located in historic Bristol, Pennsylvania, the Hospital is well-known for its knowledgeable medical staff, including cardiology, orthopedics, sports medicine, radiology, and general surgery. A residency program affiliated with The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine is well known for internal and family medicine. The hospital has more than 200 physicians on staff, as well as another 700 employees. As part of Prime Healthcare Services, headquartered in Ontario, California, Lower Bucks Hospital is focused on becoming one of the leaders in technology. Prime Healthcare is an award-winning hospital management company operating 46 acute care hospitals in 14 states, including Roxborough Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia, Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol, and Suburban Community Hospital in Montgomery County.