OMH achieves Health­grades 2019 Patient Safe­ty Excel­lence Award

Jacksonville, N.C. – Onslow Memorial Hospital (OMH) announced today it is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award™. The award recognizes hospital excellence in safeguarding patients from serious, potentially preventable complications during their hospital stays.

This distinction places OMH among the top five percent of all hospitals reporting patient safety data as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for information about hospitals and physicians.

Healthgrades reports that OMH is the only hospital in the Wilmington and Greenville/New Bern/Washington region recognized for excellence in patient safety, in the top five percent of hospitals nationwide for excellence in patient safety, and now recognized as a national leader for excellence in patient safety.

“Thanks to employees, medical staff, OMH leadership and Board members for their dedication to providing excellent care for our patients,” OMH President & CEO Penney Burlingame Deal, DHA, RN, FACHE, said. “This award from Healthgrades is an incredible achievement.”

Over the last six years OMH has earned several awards, accreditations, certifications and other recognition for many of its high-quality services. The hospital treats more than 83,000 patients per year. Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, as compared to patients at non-recipients hospitals, on average*:

• 55.9% less likely to experience an accidental cut, puncture, perforation or hemorrhage during medical care.
• 50.9% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest.
• 64.4% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital.
• 57% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital.

Healthgrades also reports that if all hospitals in the country performed at the level of award recipients for each of the 14 Patient Safety Indicators, more than 127,000 patient safety events could have been avoided.*

“We are proud to recognize the recipients of the 2019 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award, which shines a spotlight on the hospitals that are preventing the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during their hospital stays,” Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades, said. “We applaud these hospitals and their commitment to providing the best possible care for every patient.”

During the study period (2015 to 2017), Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 14 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

View Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies at www.Healthgrades.com/quality/ratings-awards/methodology

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 5e and 2018) to MedPAR data for years 2015 through 2017 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.