HealthGrades Study Found that 18,089 Women’s Lives Could Have Been Saved if all Hospitals Performed at Five-Star Level

EDINA, Minn. (June 30, 2009) –Fairview Southdale Hospital has been ranked among the top 5% in the nation for Women’s Health quality outcomes. The rating, released today by HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, recognizes Fairview Southdale Hospital with the 2009/2010 Women’s Health Excellence Award™.

This is the first year Fairview Southdale Hospital has been recognized with this award. The Sixth Annual HealthGrades Women’s Health in American Hospitals study analyzed patient outcomes for the inhospital treatment of 16 procedures/diagnoses concerning women’s health and maternity care.

“We are pleased to be recognized for our commitment to women’s health. Our physicians and staff are dedicated to diagnosing and treating women accurately and effectively and this award shows we are performing well, especially in critical areas such as stroke and heart attack,” says Bradley Beard, President of Fairview Southdale Hospital and Clinics.

If all hospitals in the study performed at the level of the best-performing hospitals in women’s health, 18,089 women’s lives could have potentially been saved and 6,849 complications could have been avoided during the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. Eighty-two percent (14,930) of the potentially preventable deaths were associated with the treatment of just four diagnoses: pneumonia, stroke, heart failure and heart attack.

Hospitals that receive this award rank among the top 5% of all hospitals nationwide when it comes to providing care to women in three areas: Women’s Medicine (heart attack, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke); Women’s Cardiovascular Procedures (coronary bypass surgery, peripheral vascular bypass, coronary and interventional procedures, resection/replacement of abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid surgery and valve replacement); and Women’s Bone & Joint Health (total knee and total hip replacement surgeries, spinal surgeries and hip fracture repair).

“The way in which women present symptoms differ from men in acute situations, such as heart attack,” said Dr. Rick May, senior physician consultant with HealthGrades and a study co-author. “Treatment for women can also differ and the quality can certainly vary between hospitals, so it is important for women to know which hospitals are recognized among the top five percent in the nation.”

In the study, HealthGrades analyzed more than 2.6 million hospitalizations using Medicare data from all 50 states from 2005 through 2007. To be included in the analysis, hospitals had to have an open heart program and treat significant numbers of women for stroke. Hospitals also had to have a significant patient population in at least six additional cohorts from all areas (pulmonary, cardiac, vascular, orthopedics and spine).

The study, along with HealthGrades’ individual hospital ratings, can be viewed for free at www.HealthGrades.com.