NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Southcoast Health today announced that it has achieved the Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award, a designation that recognizes superior performance in hospitals that have prevented the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays. The distinction places Southcoast Health among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation for its excellent performance as evaluated by Healthgrades.

Southcoast Health was listed as one of just nine hospitals in Massachusetts to receive the prestigious Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award in a new study released by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. This is the fourth year in a row (since 2014) that Southcoast Health has received this distinction.

“Southcoast Health staff work hard every single day to promote and maintain a culture of safety,” said Tim Eixenberger, Chief Nursing Officer for Southcoast Health. “We are proud of this achievement because the safety and wellbeing of our patients is a top priority as we deliver the highest quality healthcare to the communities that we serve.”

During the study period (2013-2015), Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals performed with excellence in providing safety for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

“Hospitals who have been recognized as Healthgrades 2017 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients have minimized patient safety events and also surpassed expectations in preventing safety incidents,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “We applaud these hospitals for their performance and for their organizational commitment to delivering high-quality care.”

On average, 134,568 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, as a group from 2013 to 2015, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 patient safety indicators evaluated by Healthgrades.

For more information about Healthgrades, to download a full copy of the report or to receive information about hospital and physician quality, visit: www.Healthgrades.com/quality.