Skaggs receives clinical excellence award

Skaggs on Tuesday held an employee celebration to announce it had received the 2006 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence through HealthGrades’ eighth annual Hospital Quality in America Study, released Feb. 6.

The report ranked Skaggs No. 1 in southern Missouri, including Springfield, for its cardiac and cardiology services, gastrointestinal services, pulmonary services, coronary interventions and orthopedics.

Skaggs also received a five-star, or “better than expected,” rating in total hip replacement, hip fracture repair, coronary interventional procedures, heart attack care, atrial fibrillation, community-acquired pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, respiratory failure, sepsis, bowel obstruction and cholecystectomy. The hospital did not receive any one-star, or “poor,” ratings.

The HealthGrades report independently analyzed 5,000 hospitals across the country and assessed the clinical outcomes and quality, based on mortality and complication rates, of 37 million hospitalizations in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The report’s data is licensed by the federal government’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and is risk-adjusted for population differences.