Twelve facilities from New Jersey were recognized by Healthgrades as 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients.
This distinction places these health care establishments among the Top 10% of all short-term acute care hospitals as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading marketplace connecting patients and providers.
“We are honored to be recognized as one of the top hospitals in the country for patient safety,” Audrey Meyers, CEO and president, Valley Health System, said. “Valley makes patient safety a top priority, and our staff and doctors work diligently to continue improving upon quality and patient safety protocols.”
Valley Health System is one of the 12 from the state honored, and joins an elite group of 445 hospitals across the country that have earned the Patient Safety Excellence Award.
Those from New Jersey that received the 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award include:
- Ocean University Medical Center, Brick;
- Saint Clare’s Denville Hospital, Denville and Dover;
- Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack;
- Hackensack Meridian Bayshore Medical Center, Holmdel;
- Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick;
- Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Newark;
- Newton Medical Center, Newton;
- Saint Mary’s General Hospital, Passaic;
- Saint Luke’s Warren Hospital, Phillipsburg;
- Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains;
- Valley Hospital, Ridgewood; and
- Overlook Medical Center, Summit.
During the 2019-2021 study period, 164,592 potentially preventable patient safety events occurred among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals.
Healthgrades found that just four patient safety indicators accounted for 74% of all patient safety events: hip fracture due to an in-hospital fall, collapsed lung resulting from a procedure/surgery, pressure or bed sores acquired in the hospital and catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in-hospital. Healthgrades’ analysis also revealed that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:
- 61.4% less likely to experience an in-hospital fall resulting in hip fracture than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals;
- 52.7% less likely to experience a collapsed lung resulting from a procedure or surgery in or around the chest than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals;
- 66.1% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals;
- 67.3% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital than patients treated at nonrecipient hospitals.
When it comes to choosing health care, quality saves lives, which is why Healthgrades is committed to delivering the most scientifically accurate and comprehensive information about doctors and hospitals — with data insights not available anywhere else. To that end, it’s important for consumers to know that if all hospitals, as a group, performed similarly to the 2023 Patient Safety Award recipients, on average, 95,880 patient safety events could have been avoided.
“Through our 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Awards, we seek to recognize hospitals that excel in providing top-quality care for their patients while preventing serious injuries during hospital stays,” said Dr. Brad Bowman, chief medical officer and head of data science, Healthgrades. “We are proud to name the Valley Hospital as a 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient and look forward to their continued efforts to make patient safety a top priority.”
