June 27, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           

Study Finds Fremont-Rideout Health Group (Fremont Medical Center) Among the Top for Maternity Care
  
Best-Performing Hospitals Have 76 Percent Fewer Cesarean Section Complications among Women, According to Study

Yuba City, CA – Fremont-Rideout Health Group announced today that it has been recognized with a five-star rating for clinical excellence in maternity care for services provided at Fremont Medical Center, based on a study issued by HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings company. The HealthGrades Fifth Annual Report on Women’s Health Outcomes in U.S. Hospitals found that best-performing hospitals had almost 51 percent fewer maternal complications among women who had vaginal births compared to poor-performing hospitals, and 76 percent fewer for women undergoing cesarean section births.

The HealthGrades study also identified that Fremont Medical Center of Fremont-Rideout Health Group ranks in the top ten percent in the nation for maternity care services.

“We are honored to be recognized by HealthGrades for achieving its highest rating for quality care in one of our core services,” said Theresa Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer, Fremont-Rideout Health Group.  “This is a direct result of our medical staff, nurses and employees working together to provide excellent service and care for our patients.”

Fremont-Rideout Health Group also received five-star ratings for valve replacement surgery, treatment of pulmonary embolism and appendectomy for care provided at Fremont Medical Center and Rideout Memorial Hospital, according to HealthGrades’ Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study issued earlier this year, which is based on Medicare discharges from virtually every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006.

For the maternity care ratings, HealthGrades analyzed over 12.5 million hospital delivery and neonate records from 2004 through 2006 in over 1440 hospitals and found:

• If all hospitals had performed at the level of the best-performing hospitals, 188,673 women may have avoided developing one or more in-hospital major maternal obstetrics complications associated with vaginal or C-section delivery.
• The best-performing hospitals had almost 76 percent fewer maternal complications among women who had C-sections compared to poor-performing hospitals.

“This most recent award exemplifies our medical staff’s focus on quality outcomes,” said Dr. Robert Plass, Chief Medical Officer, Fremont-Rideout Health Group. “We are proud of our physicians and clinical team for being recognized in the top ten percent of all hospitals within the 17 surveyed states for maternity care and their dedication to preventing maternal complications for both vaginal and cesarean section births.”

“Women account for 60 percent of all hospitalizations each year,” said Samantha Collier, HealthGrades’ Chief Medical Officer.  “The majority of them enter the hospital to give birth. Our research demonstrates the critical need for these women to evaluate the quality of maternity care provided by the hospital before making this important decision.”

For its 2008/2009 ratings, HealthGrades independently analyzed the quality of maternity care at hospitals in the 17 states that publish outcomes data, objectively assessing their clinical performance and quality.  HealthGrades applied the following rating system to all hospitals included in the analysis:

• Five-star (Best) = Top 15% of all hospitals within 17 states
• Three-star (Average) = Middle 70% of all hospitals within 17 states
• One-star (Poor) = Bottom 15% of all hospitals within 17 states
 
The complete maternity care and women’s health services ratings are published, free of charge, on HealthGrades Web site, www.HealthGrades.com. Ratings for 27 other medical procedures and diagnoses – including cardiac, pulmonary, vascular, stroke, orthopedics, critical care, bariatric, and gastrointestinal services – are also available on the HealthGrades Web site. 

In addition, Fremont-Rideout Health Group participates in a number of additional quality and patient satisfaction surveys and benchmarking initiatives measuring patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes including Press Ganey, the California Hospitals Assessment and Reporting Task Force (CHART), the American College of Cardiology, the Society for Thoracic Surgery and California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC).