Parma Hospital Best in the Cleveland Area for Joint Replacements
Clinical outcomes place Parma Hospital in the Top 5 percent in the Nation

Parma, OH (May 16, 2008) – The quality of hospital-based care in America is improving, but the gap between top-performing and poor-performing hospitals persists according to a study released by HealthGrades, which identifies Parma Community General Hospital as being ranked among the best in Ohio for joint replacement surgery. HealthGrades is the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings company.

Parma Hospital was named as a recipient of the 2008 HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award™, placing them in the top 5 percent in the nation. The study, which documents a significant variation in care quality between the highest-performing hospitals and all others, also found that if all hospitals performed at the level of hospitals rated with five stars by HealthGrades, 266,604 Medicare lives could have potentially been saved over the three years studied.

“Our research shows that while the overall quality of hospital care in America is improving, the gap between the best-performing hospitals and the worst persists,” said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades’ chief medical officer and author of the study. “This persistent gap makes it imperative that anyone planning to be admitted to a hospital do their homework and seek out highly rated facilities.”

According to The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, Parma Community General Hospital is also recognized in the following areas:
o Ranked Best in Cleveland area for Joint Replacement Surgery
o Only Hospital in the Cleveland area to receive the 2008 Specialty Excellence Award for Joint Replacement™
o Five-Star Rated for Total Knee Replacement
o Five-Star Rated for Total Hip Replacement
o Five-Star Rated for Hip Fracture Repair

Ed Louloudis, a 38-year-old television cameraman who suffered a knee injury on the job, chose Parma Hospital and Orthopedic Surgeon Daniel Karns, MD, to perform a new form of knee arthroplasty that preserved more of his natural bone. “I totally trusted Dr. Karns, and the therapy staff really knew what they were doing,” said Mr. Louloudis, who was pleased with his sound recovery from knee replacement surgery.

Parma Hospital President & CEO Patricia A. Ruflin, herself a certified professional in healthcare quality, said the five-star rating from HealthGrades underscores Parma Hospital’s commitment to clinical quality excellence. “This honor from HealthGrades proves that we are succeeding at our goal of providing specialized and personalized care,” said Mrs. Ruflin.

The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study identifies key trends in the quality of care provided by approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide. HealthGrades researchers analyzed Medicare discharges from every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006. Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates were calculated and hospitals were assigned a 1-star (poor), 3-star (as expected), or 5-star (best) quality rating for 28 diagnoses and procedures from heart failure to hip replacement to pneumonia. Individual hospital quality results from this study are available at www.healthgrades.com.

The 2008 HealthGrades ratings for all hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the organization’s award-winning consumer website, located at www.healthgrades.com. More than 3 million individuals and employees of some of the nation’s largest employers and health plans visit HealthGrades each month to access quality information about hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. HealthGrades also provides consumers and payers with detailed assessments of hospitals’ patient-safety outcomes, based on indicators developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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