VRMC achieves Healthgrades 2021 Patient Safety Excellence Award™

Brownsville, TX – Valley Regional Medical Center announced today that it has been recognized as a Healthgrades 2021 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipient. This distinction places Valley Regional Medical Center among the top 5% of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data as evaluated by Healthgrades, the leading marketplace connecting patients and providers.

From 2017 through 2019, there were 190,273 potentially preventable patient safety events among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals.* And, if all hospitals, as a group, performed similarly to hospitals performing better than expected on each of 13 Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) evaluated by Healthgrades, on average, 106,052 patient safety events could have been avoided.*

During this time frame, four patient safety indicators accounted for 72% of all patient safety events (collapsed lung, hip fracture due to an in-hospital fall, pressure or bed sores and catheter-related bloodstream infections). Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades 2021 Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average*:

• 50.3% less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.*
• 60.3% less likely to experience an in-hospital fall resulting in hip fracture, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.*
• 66.5% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.*
• 65.4% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non- recipient hospitals.*

“Our Healthgrades Patient Safety award is proof positive of the great care that is provided at Valley Regional Medical Center every single day,” said Art Garza, chief executive officer at Valley Regional Medical Center. “I’m extremely honored to be part of such a great organization that has a legacy of serving our community for over 45 years. Together with our medical staff providers, our clinical care teams bring life to our mission, above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life.”

“The importance of hospital quality is now at the forefront of consumer’s minds, especially as we continue to navigate COVID-19. We congratulate the recipients of the Healthgrades 2021 Patient Safety Excellence Award for their ongoing commitment to upholding the highest quality standards for their patients and communities,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades.

During the study period (2017 through 2019), Healthgrades 2021 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in patient safety within the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes—risk-adjusted patient safety indicator (PSI) rates—for 13 PSIs defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). A 14^th PSI is included in the evaluation - Foreign Objects Left in Body During a Surgery or Procedure—which is a “never” event and does not have an expected rate.

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 2020.0.1) to MedPAR data for years 2017 through 2019 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.