News Articles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: August 13, 2014

Contact:
Magen Samyn
[email protected]

McLaren Bay Region Receives National Award for Patient Safety Excellence

Bay City, MI (August 13, 2014) – McLaren Bay Region announced today that it has achieved the 2014 Patient Safety Excellence Award^™ according to Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. Out of the 131 hospitals Healthgrades evaluated in Michigan, there were only 19 hospitals to receive this award. McLaren Bay Region is the only hospital in the Great Lakes Bay Region to be among the top 5% nationally for Patient Safety Excellence. This distinction clearly demonstrates McLaren Bay Region’s dedication to superior performance in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays.

“McLaren Bay Region is proud to be a recipient of this prestigious award,” said Alice Gerard, President and CEO, McLaren Bay Region. “It is an acknowledgement of our hospital’s focus and dedication to our patient safety initiatives,” Ms. Gerard continued. “We have invested many resources in programs and technology that address clinical quality and safe patient care, both of which are important to our staff and our community. It is an honor to be recognized by Healthgrades.”

“Healthgrades is dedicated to providing quality information that helps consumers make decisions based on objective data leading to the best care for themselves and their families,” said Evan Marks, Executive Vice President, Informatics and Strategy, Healthgrades. “Consumers can rest assured that a hospital recognized with a Healthgrades 2014 Patient Safety Excellence Award has demonstrated an established commitment to patient safety.”


During the 2014 study period (2010-2012), Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals showed better than expected performance in providing safety for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) across 13 of the 14 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  If all hospitals performed at the same level of award recipients, 266,813 patient safety events among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals, potentially could have been avoided.

Sandra Garzell, Director of Quality/Patient Care Services, said, “McLaren Bay Region has focused on patient safety for many years.  Our culture empowers our employees to report potential processes which may result in harm. Engaging front line employees to be part of the process change has made a difference with patient care.”

For more information about Healthgrades or to download a full copy of the report or to receive information about hospital and physician quality, visit: www.Healthgrades.com/quality today.

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About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Flint, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 12 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, the state’s only proton therapy center, an employed primary care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 250,000 lives, home health and hospice providers, retail medical equipment showrooms, pharmacy services, and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only two National Cancer Institute-designated centers in the state. McLaren has 21,000 employees and more than 25,000 network providers. Its operations are housed in more than 300 facilities serving a 54-county market and 75 percent of Michigan’s population. Learn more at mclaren.org.