This Delco Hospital Has Been Ranked Among America's Best

MEDIA, PA — A new list of the best hospitals in the country has been released, and one Delaware County facility was featured on the list.

Healthgrades, a health care information company, put out its latest rankings of the best hospitals in the United States. In Pennsylvania, 14 hospitals were included on the list, one being in Delco.

Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media made the list, coming in among the 250 best in the nation.

You can see the full list of Pennsylvania hospitals that made the cut here.

According to Healthgrades, patients treated in hospitals on its list of the 250 best have a 26.6 percent lower chance of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that weren't named to the rankings.

Healthgrades evaluated hospital performance through 32 procedures and conditions. To be eligible for the list, a hospital must have successful evaluations in at least 21 of the procedures and conditions.

The procedures and conditions evaluated by Healthgrades included treatment of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.

After identifying eligible hospitals, Healthgrades used a series of steps to compile the list of the top 250 hospitals in the nation. You can read the full methodology for the rankings here.

Healthgrades' mission is to "help patients find and connect with the right doctor or hospital," according to its website. The organization says it collects its data from a variety of sources including the National Provider Registry, which is a government directory of all active health care providers in the United States.

Additionally, Healthgrades pulls information from patient surveys, data from government sources and data that comes directly from providers or practices.

"Sustaining a high level of care is challenging and requires a hospital-wide commitment and a 'patient-first' culture. We applaud these elite hospitals on being recognized as the best in the nation," said Brad Bowman, the chief medical officer at Healthgrades, in a news release. "With increasing awareness on the importance of hospital quality, this information is a vital resource for consumers when it comes to selecting a hospital for their specific care needs."

The rankings are different than the biannual hospital safety grades released by the Leapfrog Group. That organization releases fall and spring safety grades, which are established by a panel of experts who use a specific methodology to develop a scoring system.

Riddle Memorial Hospital received a C from Leapfrog this fall and last spring. The hospital was also graded a C in spring 2019, fall 2018, and spring 2018.