Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals Achieve Healthgrades 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award

Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center and Bayshore Medical Center rank top five percent in the nation for patient safety

Hackensack Meridian Health announced today that four of its hospitals have been named as recipients of the Healthgrades 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award™. Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center, and Bayshore Medical Center were awarded with this year’s honors, placing them among the top five percent of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data as evaluated Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems.

“Hackensack Meridian Health is committed to delivering the highest quality, safest care possible with exceptional outcomes for our patients,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “I would like to congratulate our hospitals on receiving the 2020 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award. Today’s recognition puts our hospitals among the top in the nation for patient safety, reaffirming our ongoing commitment to elevating the standard of care in New Jersey and beyond.”

During the study period from 2016 through 2018, Healthgrades 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safeguarding patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes—risk-adjusted patient safety indicator (PSI) rates—for 13 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average*:

48.3 percent less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

54.4 percent less likely to experience a hip fracture following surgery than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

66.8 percent less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

63 percent less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

In addition, if all hospitals in the country performed at the level of award recipients for each of the 13 patient safety indicators, then 110,864 patient safety events could have been avoided.*

“At Hackensack Meridian Health, our team members are working tirelessly to deliver the highest quality of care across our network, setting an example for patient safety and excellence,” said Carol Barsky, M.D., MBA, executive vice president and chief quality officer, Hackensack Meridian Health. “I want to thank our frontline heroes for their dedication to providing the safest, highest quality of care each time a patient walks through our doors.”

This year marks the seventh year in a row that Bayshore Medical Center has received this award, the fourth year in a row for Ocean Medical Center, the second year for Riverview Medical Center, and the first year Jersey Shore University Medical Center is receiving this award. Click here

to view the Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies.

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 2019.0.1) to MedPAR data for years 2016 through 2018 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.