FALL RIVER, Mass – Southcoast Health today announced that it has been recognized as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care for the sixth year in a row by Healthgrades (2012-17), the leading online resource for healthcare consumers. Southcoast Health is one of just four hospitals in Massachusetts to receive this distinction for six consecutive years.

In all, Southcoast Health was recognized for superior cardiovascular services with 13 recognitions, including receiving the Healthgrades Cardiac Care Excellence Award for the 11^th year in a row (2007-17).

“These recognitions are a much-deserved acknowledgement of the tremendous dedication of the team of physicians, nurses and clinical staff at the Southcoast Health Cardiovascular Care Center,” said Dr. Margaret Ferrell, Physician-in-Chief of Cardiovascular Services at Southcoast Health. “Our team provides the highest level of cardiac care to the patients of our region on a daily basis, and so it’s gratifying to see their hard work recognized.”

Southcoast Health also received awards in pulmonary, neurosciences, gastrointestinal, orthopedics and critical care. (See the full list below)

These achievements are part of new findings and data released this week on Healthgrades.com and in the Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation. For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare-patient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 34 common conditions and procedures.

“The Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation reveals striking disparities in the quality observed among the nation’s hospitals, and underscores why it is vital for consumers to understand outcomes performance at specific hospitals for specific conditions and procedures,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer for Healthgrades. “A given community may have many hospitals, but only a precious few may provide better-than-expected outcomes for the specific care a patient needs. Those hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care distinction have demonstrated a commitment to exceptional quality of care.”

Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically better than expected), 3-star (statistically as expected) and 1-star (statistically worse than expected) categories.

Detailed performance information, such as cohort-specific outcomes data and quality achievements, as well as more information on the Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.

The following is a full list of Healthgrades recognitions received by Southcoast Health this year:

 2017 Recognitions

Cardiovascular Services

• Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care for six years in a row (2012-17)
• Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals from Coronary Intervention in 2017
• Healthgrades Cardiac Care Excellence Award for 11 years in a row (2007-17)
• Healthgrades Coronary Intervention Excellence Award for 2017
• Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Cardiac Services in 2017
• Top 5% in the Nation for Cardiology Services in 2017
• Top 5% in the Nation for Coronary Interventional Procedures in 2017
• Top 10% in the Nation for Overall Cardiac Services for 11 years in a row (2007-17)
• Top 10% in the Nation for Cardiology Services for two years in a row (2016-17)
• Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Bypass Surgery for six years in a row (2012-17)
• Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Interventional Procedures in 2017
• Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack for two years in a row (2016-17)
• Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure for three years in a row (2015-17)
• Five-Star Recipient for Defibrillator Procedures for two years in a row (2016-17)

Pulmonary

• Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care for three years in a row (2015-17)
• Healthgrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award for eight years in a row (2010-17)
• Top 5% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services for four years in a row (2014-17)
• Top 10% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services for eight years in a row (2010-17)
• Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease for nine years in a row (2009-17)
• Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Pneumonia for seven years in a row (2011-17)

Critical Care

• Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Respiratory Failure for two years in a row (2016-17)

Orthopedics

• Five-Star Recipient for Hip Fracture Treatment for two years in a row (2016-17)

 2016 Recognitions

 Hospital Wide

• Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award – Clinical Excellence (2016)
• Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for three years in a row (2014-16)
• Top 5% in the Nation for Patient Safety for three years in a row (2014-16)