Cooper Health Honored For Patient Safety

Cooper University Health Care has earned the 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades, placing it in the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for patient safety, the health system announced on Tuesday. Healthgrades connects consumers, physicians, and health systems.

“Achieving this Patient Safety Excellence Award two years in a row demonstrates Cooper’s commitment and success in delivering the safest and most effective medical care to our patients,” Cooper co-CEO Kevin O’Dowd said.

“As a leading academic health system in the region, our patients have come to expect safe and effective health care from our of dedicated doctors, advanced practice providers, nurses, techs, and support staff and this award helps to reinforce the level of trust our patients place in our team at Cooper,” Cooper co-CEO Anthony J. Mazzarelli said.

The award is the result of a three-year study period in which Cooper and other recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safeguarding patients in the Medicare population. The study period was from 2016-18.

The award is based upon 13 objective risk-adjusted patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Healthgrades found that patients, treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award, were on average:

• 48.3% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 54.4% less likely to experience a hip fracture following surgery, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 66.8% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 63% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital, than patients treated at non- recipient hospitals.

Healthgrades said that if all hospitals in the country performed at the level of award recipients for each of the 13 patient safety indicators, 110,864 incidents that negatively impacted patient safety could have been avoided.

“Consumers might not know that information around patient safety is readily available and should be considered when researching health care options,” Healthgrades Chief Medical Officer Brad Bowman said. “We commend the recipients of the 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award for their dedication to providing excellent care for their patients.”

View hospital quality methodologies here.