Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - St. Francis ranks among top 5 percent in nation for emergency medicine

Emergency medicine care at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – St. Francis has been found to be among the top 5% of hospitals in the nation, according to a new study released by HealthGrades, the leading independent health care ratings organization.

As a result, St. Francis is the recipient of the HealthGrades 2010 Emergency Medicine Excellence Award™.

St. Francis is one of six hospital recipients in Wisconsin. Only 255 of the 4,900 U.S. hospitals examined for their mortality rates in 11 of the most common conditions for Medicare patients associated with emergency medicine received this award.

St. Francis has a 39% lower mortality rate for the 11 conditions studied. The mortality rates were risk-adjusted so that hospitals with sicker and older patients could be compared on equal footing with other hospitals.

“I thank our medical staff and our employees for their continued commitment to clinical and patient service excellence,” said Dan Mattes, President of Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – St. Francis. “It is an honor to have St. Francis ranked among the top 5% of hospitals in the nation for emergency medical care. It’s also noteworthy that an independent organization rated us as a top performer.”

The HealthGrades study used 5 million Medicare patient records from 2006, 2007, and 2008 to analyze mortality rates in the following 11 conditions: bowel obstruction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetic acidosis and coma, gastrointestinal bleed, heart attack, pancreatitis, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.

Hospitals in the top 5% improved their patient outcomes in these 11 conditions 16% over the time period studied, compared with a 10% improvement for all other hospitals in the U.S.