Banner Boswell, Banner Del E. Webb rank in nation’s top 5 percent
for preventing mortality and complications
SUN CITY WEST, SUN CITY Ariz. (Jan. 29, 2010) – Banner Boswell Medical Center, in Sun City, and Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center, in Sun City West, recently were highlighted in a Forbes.com article as being among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation in preventing mortality and complications.
According to Forbes, this ranking is based on data from HealthGrades, a national hospital rating company that “singled out 269 hospitals across the country with unusually low mortality and complication rates for 26 different procedures and diagnoses,” including “treatment for heart failure, pneumonia, stroke, as well as hip and knee replacement operations, back surgery and stent procedures.”
The two nonprofit hospitals have a 29 percent lower mortality rate and 9 percent lower complication rate when compared with all other hospitals based on data from 40 million Medicare patients hospitalized between 2006 and 2008, Forbes.com reports. Moreover, the article noted that if every hospital performed as well as those in the top five percent, 150,132 lives could potentially be saved and 13,104 complications could be prevented in the Medicare population.
Banner Boswell and Banner Del E. Webb are two of only five hospitals in Arizona and the only hospitals in the West Valley to earn this distinction. The employees, volunteers and physicians at these facilities continually work to raise their level of clinical care and customer service.
“I think this ranking speaks to our high levels of quality control and adherence to patient safety measures,” said Dr. Charlie Agee, chief medical officer for Banner Del E. Webb. “It is our mission to make a difference in people’s lives through excellent patient care and being among the top five percent of hospitals that prevent death as well as complications after procedures certainly show that we are doing just that.”
Dr. Terry Loftus, chief medical officer for Banner Boswell, emphasized the importance of transparency among hospitals to allow patients to be well informed when making decisions about their health care. “As part of our Care Management program, Banner Boswell, along with all 22 Banner Health hospitals, collects and measures data about our performance against national standards to improve how we provide patient care. We post this data publicly on BannerHealth.com because we strongly believe in accountability to our patients and communities in providing consistent, reliable and evidence-based care at all of our facilities,” said Dr. Loftus.
In 2009, Banner Boswell treated 22,297 inpatients, 43,956 emergency patients and performed 10,233 surgeries. In the same year, Banner Del E. Webb treated 20,534 inpatients, saw 57,167 patients in the emergency department and performed 8,155 surgeries.
Banner Health’s quality report is available at www.bannerhealth.com, keyword: quality. Consumers can also check Web sites such as Medicare’s Hospital Quality Compare tool, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.
Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center, 14502 W. Meeker Blvd., Sun City West, is a 404-bed, acute-care hospital offering heart care, emergency care, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, cancer care, obstetrics and gynecology, outpatient services, rehabilitation and behavioral care. For more information, visit www.Bannerhealth.com/Webb.
Banner Boswell Medical Center, 10401 W. Thunderbird Blvd., is a 430-bed, acute-care hospital located in Sun City, Arizona. Founded in 1970, Banner Boswell offers heart services, cancer care, orthopedics, neurosciences, women’s diagnostics, emergency care, and medical and surgical services. For more information about Banner Boswell, visit www.BannerHealth.com/Boswell.
