New National Report Identifies CRMC among the Top Hospitals Nationally for Excellence in a Number of Specialties

COOKEVILLE-Cookeville Regional Medical Center today announced that it has been recognized by Healthgrades for clinical excellence in cardiac care, cardiac surgery, orthopedics, spine surgery, pulmonary and critical care medicine according to Healthgrades, the leading online resource that helps consumers search, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals. This achievement was released today with other new findings in American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2014: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, which evaluates hospital performance at over 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 31 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.

The new report highlights the disparity in hospital performance for specific conditions and procedures and the impact that this variation may have on health outcomes. For example, from 2010-2012, if all hospitals as a group, performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average 234,252 lives could potentially have been saved and 157,418 complications could potentially have been avoided.   A 5-star rating indicates that Cookeville Regional’s clinical outcomes are better than expected when treating the condition or conducting the procedure being evaluated.

Cookeville Regional not only performs at a 5 star level – it outperforms other hospitals in the nation in this condition, and as a result has been recognized with the 2014 Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Award in six categories: Cardiac Care, Cardiac Surgery, Coronary Intervention, Orthopedic Surgery, Spine Surgery and Pulmonary Care.

“For a hospital our size it is quite unique to offer the level of specialty care that we provide,” said Paul Korth, CEO of Cookeville Regional. “To be recognized for the high quality of that care on a national level is quite significant. We have a great team here at Cookeville Regional – from physicians, physician extenders, hospital staff and the volunteers – who work hard to ensure that we provide excellent care for our patients. Each day we work harder to maintain our level of quality care and it certainly benefits the thousands of patients we see each year.”

“As American policy-makers focus more intently on ways to lower healthcare costs and improve quality, patients are being asked to assume more responsibility for their healthcare decisions – from selection of their health plan to the associated network of physicians and hospitals,” said Evan Marks, EVP, Strategy and Informatics, Healthgrades.  “Since all hospitals do not perform equally in all procedures, patients can have confidence that by selecting a physician associated with a hospital that has achieved recognition by Healthgrades, they can potentially improve outcomes and reduce costs.”

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare-patient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 31 common conditions and procedures. Healthgrades awards hospitals quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5 star (statistically better than expected), 3 star (statistically as expected) and 1 star (statistically worse than expected) categories. Detailed performance information, such as cohort-specific outcomes data and quality achievements for individual hospitals may be found at  www.healthgrades.com/find-a-hospital.

Cookeville Regional’s full listing of 2014 achievements include:

America’s Best 100 Hospitals
One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care™ for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)
One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™ in 2014
One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention™ for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery™ for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Spine Surgery™ for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)

Cardiac
Recipient of the Healthgrades Cardiac Care Excellence Award™ for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
Recipient of the Healthgrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™ in 2014
Recipient of the Healthgrades Coronary Intervention Excellence Award™ for 4 Years in a Row (2011-2014)
Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Cardiac Services for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)
Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Cardiac Surgery in 2014
Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Cardiology Services for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)
Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Coronary Interventional Procedures for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Bypass Surgery for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Interventional Procedures for 4 Years in a Row (2011-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack for 4 Years in a Row (2011-2014)

Orthopedic
Recipient of the Healthgrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award™ for 6 Years in a Row (2009-2014)
Recipient of the Healthgrades Spine Surgery Excellence Award™ for 7 Years in a Row (2008-2014)
Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Orthopedic Services for 6 Years in a Row (2009-2014)
Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Spine Surgery for 9 Years in a Row (2006-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Total Knee Replacement for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Total Hip Replacement for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Hip Fracture Treatment for 6 Years in a Row (2009-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Back Surgery for 10 Years in a Row (2005-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Spinal Fusion Surgery for 8 Years in a Row (2007-2014)

Pulmonary
Recipient of the Healthgrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ in 2014
Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services in 2014
Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)
Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Pneumonia in 2014
Vascular
Five-Star Recipient for Peripheral Vascular Bypass for 3 Years in a Row (2012-2014)
Critical Care
Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Respiratory Failure for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)

More information on the American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2014: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.