Parrish Medical Center Hailed as One of America’s Safest Hospitals by Visiting National Hospital Safety Leader

TITUSVILLE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2017 / Preventable hospital errors lead to the deaths of thousands of Americans annually, but lives are being saved because Parrish Medical Center (PMC) and a growing number of other U.S. hospitals are making patient safety their priority, the leader of one of America’s premier healthcare safety organizations told PMC care partners this month.

Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, a national non-profit organization promoting “giant leaps” in healthcare quality and safety, was in Titusville on Aug. 8 to tour PMC and congratulate its board of directors and staff on being one of only 63 (of 2,600) U.S. hospitals since 2012 to earn the Leapfrog Group’s patient safety ‘A’ grade in every grading period to date.

PMC is the sole central Florida hospital over that same period to achieve straight-A grades from The Leapfrog Group. The Leapfrog Group estimates that preventable hospital errors cost some 1,000 Americans their lives every day.

“People’s lives and health are better protected in hospitals that make safety their priority,” Binder told PMC board members, administration, employees and volunteers gathered in the hospital’s atrium. “To earn four straight ‘A’ grades is evidence, for everyone to see, of Parrish Medical Center’s determination to serve its patients well and safely.”

The average cost of a hospital-acquired surgical site infection is $39,000, demonstrating the financial impact that is also affected by hospital safety, she said.

“Hospital safety can’t be a slogan, an objective, or a desire; it has to be a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute commitment and practice because lives are literally at stake,” said George Mikitarian, PMC president and CEO.

“PMC was honored that Leah Binder would come here personally to tour the hospital, and to meet the care partners responsible for not only setting patient safety as a goal, but achieving it in a manner equaled by few American hospitals,” Mikitarian said.

The Leapfrog Group was formed by employers and other large healthcare purchasers to bring about significant healthcare improvements. The Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Survey enables healthcare purchasers to make informed decisions on which hospitals are safest and where they can receive the highest-value care.

The Leapfrog Group assigns A, B, C, D, and F, grades based on a composite of 30 safety measures covering injuries, infections, and errors. Included in the survey are management practices that promote quality and safety; maternity care outcomes; high-risk procedure outcomes; and hospital acquired condition prevalence and medication safety.

A recent national example of the importance of hospital safety was the aftermath of the June 14 shooting in Arlington, Va., of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise. His condition, at first listed as critical, improved to fair until an infection caused him to be readmitted to the intensive care unit. The hospital in which Rep. Scalise was treated had received a ‘D’ grade from The Leapfrog Group.

“PMC is one of America’s safest hospitals,” Mikitarian said. “We’re grateful to Ms. Binder for coming here personally to deliver that message to all PMC care partners.”

Left to right: Aluino Ochoa, MD, president, Parrish Medical Staff; Herman Cole, Jr., PMC board chairman; George Mikitarian, PMC president and CEO; Leah Binder, The LeapFrog Group president and CEO; and Edwin Loftin, PMC vice president, Acute Care Services/CNO

For a brief video of Leah Binder being interviewed by USA Today’s Jayne O’Donnell following the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise: https://www.usatoday.com/search/leah%20binder/

To review the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades for Brevard County hospitals: http://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/search?findBy=zip&zip_code=32926&radius=50&city=&state_prov=&hospital

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 and based in Washington, D.C., The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit watchdog organization that serves as a voice for health care purchasers, using their collective influence to foster positive change in U.S. health care. Leapfrog is the nation’s premier advocate of hospital transparency – collecting, analyzing and disseminating hospital data to inform value-based purchasing. The Leapfrog Group uses national performance measures from numerous sources, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other survey methods, to twice annually survey some 2,600 U.S. general acute-care hospitals.

About Parrish Medical Center

Parrish Medical Center (PMC), a Parrish Healthcare integrated care partner, is located at 951 N. Washington Ave., Titusville, Florida. The 210-bed, not-for-profit acute care public medical center has been serving Brevard County for nearly 60 years. PMC is nationally recognized as One of America’s finest healing environments®. PMC has earned top rankings on The SafeCare Group’s Top 100 SafeCare Hospitals® since 2015. The Joint Commission consistently names PMC as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, recognizing PMC for “exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care.” The hospital has earned straight “A” safety ratings (since 2012) from The Leapfrog Group. In 2014, Consumer Reports recognized PMC as Florida’s safest hospital. PMC, as compared to other U.S. hospitals, maintains top-tier national rankings for clinical outcomes, safety and patients’ experiences. For more information, visit www.parrishmed.com.

CONTACT:

VERONICA DENT, APR
DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS & COMMUNITY SERVICES
321-268-6110

SOURCE: Parrish Medical Center

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