Bozeman Deaconess Hospital Receives Five Star Ratings

October 27, 2009

       Bozeman Deaconess Hospital Receives Five Star Ratings for Cardiac Services,
                                            Orthopedics and Pulmonary Programs

Bozeman Deaconess Hospital's Cardiac Services, Orthopedics, and Pulmonary programs were recognized with 5-star ratings by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings company. In addition, all three programs were also ranked in the Top 5 in Montana for the quality of the programs. These findings were included in the Twelfth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study.

"We're pleased that the cardiac, orthopedic and pulmonary programs at Bozeman Deaconess are recognized for these achievements," said John Nordwick, CEO and President of Bozeman Deaconess Health Services. "Our staff and physicians have worked hard to provide our community with the highest level of care and this recognition validates their tremendous effort."

• Bozeman Deaconess Cardiac Services, for the second year in a row, received the five-star rating for the quality of its coronary interventional procedures, 2010. The program is also ranked among the Top 5 in Montana.
• Bozeman Deaconess Orthopedics program earned a five-star rating in 2010 for total hip replacement and is ranked among the top five joint replacement programs in Montana.
• The Bozeman Deaconess Pulmonary program earned the five-star rating for treatment of pneumonia for eight years (2003-2010) and also a Top 5 in Montana for pulmonary services.

HealthGrades released the Twelfth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, which examined nearly 40 million Medicare hospitalization records for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. The study looks at trends in mortality and complication rates and also provides the foundation for HealthGrades' quality ratings of procedures and diagnoses at each individual hospital.

The largest annual study of patient outcomes at each of the nation's 5,000 nonfederal hospitals found a wide gap in quality between the nation's best hospitals and all others. According to the study, patients at highly rated hospitals have a 52% lower chance of dying compared with the U.S. hospital average, a quality chasm that has persisted for the last decade even as mortality rates, in general, have declined.