St. Helena Hospital Receives Top Honors for Surgery Safety and Outcomes from Consumer Reports Including 47% Less Adverse Coronary Angioplasty Events Than Predicted and 59% Less Adverse Carotid Artery Surgical Events Than Predicted

August 1, 2013

For the first time, Consumer Reports has rated U.S. hospitals on patient safety during and after surgery. St. Helena Hospital has received top honors regarding Surgery Safety and Outcomes. St. Helena Hospital was only one of three hospitals in the Bay area to receive such a high rating. The ratings include an overall surgery rating, which combines results for 27 categories of scheduled surgeries, as well as individual ratings for five specific procedure types: back surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement, angioplasty, and carotid artery surgery.

Consumer Reports’ Surgery Ratings are based on an analysis of billing claims that hospitals submitted to Medicare for patients 65 and older, from 2009 through 2011, and cover 2,463 hospitals in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

“Our physicians and staff are dedicated to providing safe, high-quality surgical care,” said Terry Newmyer, CEO of St. Helena Hospital. “This top rating from Consumer Reports demonstrates the commitment to excellence in all aspects of care as we seek to help our community Live Younger Longer.”

The Consumer Reports study is released on the heels of a St. Helena Hospital feature on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams on July 24. The segment highlighted patient experience in the health care industry. St. Helena Hospital was contacted by NBC Nightly News partly as a result of the NRC Picker “Path to Excellence” award, received last fall for top patient satisfaction scores in hospitals with 100 to 300 beds which earned the hospital the moniker, “Top in the West”. In addition, St. Helena Hospital recently received twelve 5-Star ratings and 2 quality awards from Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.

“The combination of quality-related and patient experience-related recognitions from multiple third-party agencies illustrates our approach to patient care at St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley,” said Nia Lendaris, RN and VP of Patient Care. “Great patient experience has to begin with excellent medicine. We strive to deliver safe, proven and innovative care in a way that exceeds our patients’ expectations.”