A study issued today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, finds that Porter hospital is among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation for stroke care. The study named Porter hospital as a recipient of HealthGrades 2010 Stroke Care Excellence Award™ due to its clinical outcomes when treating stroke patients. Nearly 5,000 hospitals nationally were included in the study, which examined mortality rates and complication rates from government data from 2006, 2007 and 2008. 
According to the study, Porter hospital ranks among the top 10 hospitals in Indiana for coronary interventions, orthopedics, and stroke care. In fact, the study results identify Porter hospital as the best in Northwest Indiana for coronary interventions such as angioplasty and insertion of stents to open blocked arteries.
Porter hospital received five-star ratings for:
- Coronary intervention procedures
- Total knee replacement surgery
- Gastrointestinal surgery and procedures (such as gastric repairs, and small and large intestine resections)
- Treatment of pneumonia
- Carotid surgery (procedures on the carotid artery that help prevent strokes)
- Stroke treatment
“When Porter receives this type of recognition, the entire community benefits,” said Jonathan Nalli, Porter CEO. “For the second year in a row, we have received confirmation that we are providing nationally rated quality health care right here in Northwest Indiana.”
The Significance of HealthGrades Ratings The HealthGrades twelfth annual Hospital Quality in America study, the largest annual report of its kind, analyzed patient outcomes from nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records.
Top-performing hospitals had dramatically lower mortality rates than other hospitals, according to the study. For the 17 procedures and diagnoses for which HealthGrades analyzed mortality rates, patients at top hospitals had a 72 percent lower chance of dying when compared with the lowest-performing hospitals, and a 52 percent lower chance of dying when compared to the U.S. national average.
HealthGrades rates hospitals independently based on data that hospitals submit to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated.
For 28 procedures and treatments, HealthGrades issues star ratings that reflect the mortality and complication rates for each category of care. Hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have mortality or complication rates that are below the national average, to a statistically significant degree. A 3-star rating means the hospital performs as expected. One-star ratings indicate the hospital’s mortality or complication rates in that procedure or treatment are statistically higher than average. Because the risk profiles of patient populations at hospitals are not alike, HealthGrades risk-adjusts the data to allow for apples-to-apples comparisons.
More information on today’s HealthGrades study, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com.