Highlights of Valley Hospital's scores in the HealthGrades study include:

 

Cardiac Services:

Ranked Best #1 in NJ for Coronary Interventional Procedures 

Five-Star Rated for Cardiology Services

Five-Star Rated for Coronary Interventional Procedures Three Years in a Row (2007 - 2009)

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Heart Attack Six Years in a Row (2004 - 2009)

Five-Star Rated for Treatment of Heart Failure Five Years in a Row (2005 - 2009)

 

Spine Surgery:

Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Spine Surgery

Ranked  Best #1 in NJ  for Spine Surgery

Five-Star Rated for Spine Surgery  in 2009

Five-Star Rated for Back and Neck Surgery (except Spinal Fusion)

 

Orthopedics:

Five-Star Rated for Total Hip Replacement Four Years in a Row (2006 - 2009)

 

"I am very proud that Valley has received these distinguished commendations, particularly the No.1 rankings in the state for spine surgery and coronary interventional procedures," said Audrey Meyers, President and CEO of The Valley Hospital. "These outstanding achievements are testament to the priority Valley staff and physicians place on achieving the highest-quality clinical outcomes, while delivering the most compassionate care."

 

These findings were included in the 11th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, which is the most comprehensive study of its kind, analyzing more than 41 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2005 to 2007 at the nation's approximately 5,000 non-federal hospitals.  According to the study, if all hospitals performed at the level of five-star rated hospitals, 237,420 Medicare deaths could potentially have been prevented over the three years studied. More than half of those preventable deaths were associated with four conditions: sepsis, pneumonia, heart failure and respiratory failure.

 

While overall death rates declined from 2005 to 2007, the nation's best-performing hospitals were able to reduce preventable deaths at a much faster rate than poor-performing hospitals, resulting in large state, regional and hospital-to-hospital variations in the quality of patient care, the study found.

 

"We want to be the hospital of choice for all those seeking medical care in northern New Jersey," said Meyers.  "We hope that providing this type of information to consumers makes their choice easier to make."

 

Based on the study, HealthGrades today made available its 2009 quality ratings for virtually every hospital in the country at www.healthgrades.com, a Web site designed to help individual's research and compare local healthcare providers.

 

On its Web site, HealthGrades offers, free to consumers, quality ratings of 27 procedures and treatments for virtually every hospital in the country. The Web site is designed so that consumers can easily compare patient outcomes at their local hospitals for procedures ranging from aortic aneurysm repair to bypass surgery. Each hospital receives a star rating based on its patient outcomes in terms of mortality or complication rates for each procedure or treatment. Hospitals with outcomes that are above average to a statistically significant degree receive a five-star rating. Hospitals with average outcomes receive a three-star rating, and hospitals with outcomes that are below average receive a one-star rating. Because no two hospitals or their patients' risk profiles are alike, HealthGrades employs extensive risk-adjustment algorithms to ensure that it is making analogous comparisons.

 

The Valley Hospital

 

The Valley Hospital is a fully accredited, acute care, not-for-profit hospital serving more than 440,000 people in 32 towns in Bergen County and adjoining communities.  Its current bed capacity is 451. According to the most recent statistics available, Valley is the second busiest hospital in the state of New Jersey, based on admissions.  The Valley Hospital is an affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System.

 

Valley was the first hospital in the tri-state area to be recognized for service excellence under the J.D. Power and Associates Distinguished Hospital Program SM  and has received the award five consecutive times.  Valley has been honored twice with "Magnet" designation - the nursing profession's highest honor - from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).  The Hospital has also earned an impressive 10 Gold Seals of Approval for healthcare quality from the Joint Commission, placing it among an elite group of hospitals to achieve this number of Disease-Specific Certifications. Valley holds Joint Commission Disease-Specific Care Certification for acute  myocardial infarction, heart failure, knee replacement, hip replacement, stroke, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. 

 

In 2007 Valley was the only hospital in New Jersey named a "2007 Top Hospital" by the Leapfrog Group's Hospital Quality and Safety Survey, and for four consecutive years has been designated one of the 50 Best Places to Work in New Jersey by NJBIZ, New Jersey's only weekly business publication.

 

For more information please visit www.valleyhealth.com.