Nation’s Top Hospital Organ Transplant Centers

Nation’s Top Hospital Organ Transplant Centers Identified by HealthGrades
- 210 Hospitals Evaluated on HealthGrades.com -

Hospitals with Best Outcomes in Kidney, Lung, Heart and Liver Transplants Receive Transplant Excellence Award™

Press Release Source: HealthGrades On Wednesday November 17, 2010, 4:05 am EST
GOLDEN, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a donor organ. HealthGrades annual evaluation of the nation’s top-performing hospitals in organ transplantation includes clinical quality data, based on patient outcomes, for each of the 210 adult acute care hospitals that perform transplants. This information is available, free to the public, at HealthGrades.com and is intended to help patients in need of kidney, lung, heart or liver transplants.

“More than 108,000 patients are on a waiting list for an organ transplant in the U.S and it is imperative that patients have a resource to compare patient outcomes and other criteria at programs across the country,” said HealthGrades’ Rick May, MD. “HealthGrades’ hospital ratings are based on objective patient outcomes, empowering patients to choose a program that gives them the best chance at survival.”

The following data is displayed on HealthGrades.com and was calculated by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) for all adult acute care hospitals in the U.S. with transplant programs:

• One and three-year risk-adjusted patient survival;

• One and three-year risk-adjusted graft survival;

• The rate at which waitlisted patients receive transplants; and

• Waitlist mortality.

Hospitals with transplant programs received HealthGrades Transplant Excellence Awards if they had a statistically significantly higher three-year survival rate. Award recipients were also required to have waitlist mortality that was either not significantly different than expected or was significantly lower than expected based on SRTR calculations. Of the 210 hospitals evaluated, 20 hospitals received this award.

The recipients are as follows*:

HealthGrades Kidney Transplant Excellence Award recognized 11 recipients out of 199 hospitals evaluated:

Sutter General Hospital
UC Davis Medical Center
Yale - New Haven Hospital
Tampa General Hospital
MCG Health Medical Center
Clarian Methodist Hospital
Ochsner Clinic Foundation
Boston Medical Center Corporation
New York - Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
Allegheny General Hospital
University of Washington Medical Center
HealthGrades Lung Transplant Excellence Award recognized 3 recipients out of 53 hospitals evaluated:

Shands Hospital at the University of Florida
Tampa General Hospital
University of Minnesota Medical Center – Riverside
HealthGrades Heart Transplant Excellence Award recognized 2 recipients out of 98 hospitals evaluated:

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
Temple University Hospital
HealthGrades Liver Transplant Excellence Award recognized 4 recipients out of 95 hospitals evaluated:

California Pacific Medical Center - Pacific
UCSF Medical Center
Cleveland Clinic
Saint Lukes Episcopal Hospital
The ratings of individual hospitals, as well as the full methodology of the analysis, can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com. For additional information about each of these transplant programs, or about the methods used for computing the measures above, please visit the SRTR website at www.ustransplant.org. The SRTR is not in any way involved in determining award status.

HealthGrades

Health Grades, Inc. is the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, providing quality ratings, profiles and cost information on the nation's hospitals, physicians, nursing homes and prescription drugs. Millions of patients and many of the nation’s largest hospitals, health plans and employers rely on HealthGrades’ quality ratings, advisory services and decision-support resources. The HealthGrades Network of websites, including HealthGrades.com and WrongDiagnosis.com, is a top-ten health property according to comScore and is the Internet's leading destination for patients choosing providers. More information on how HealthGrades guides Americans to their best health can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.

*The HealthGrades Transplant Excellence Award list is © Copyright 2010 by Health Grades, Inc. and may not be used for marketing by hospitals or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner without its express written permission.

Contact:

HealthGrades
Marsha Austin, 720-963-3848
maustin@healthgrades.com

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