Northside ranked in Top 10 U.S. hospitals

The hospital is also rated among the Top 10 hospitals in Ohio in several categories.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Forum Health Northside Medical Center is in the Top 10 percent of hospitals nationally in the areas of cardiology services and coronary intervention procedures.

The hospital is also rated among the Top 10 hospitals in Ohio for cardiology services (No. 10), coronary interventional procedures (No. 6), overall critical care (No. 6), and overall orthopedics (No. 7), according to HealthGrades, a national health care ratings organization based in Colorado.

The awards were presented to the hospital Monday by a HealthGrades representative, Alex Peck, who said the ratings are based on three years (2005, 2006, 2007) of outcome data from 41 million Medicare patient records.

HealthGrades also rates nearly 5,000 hospitals in various areas, ranging from one-star for “poor;” three-star for “expected,” and five-star for “best.” All hospitals are rated; none can opt out of the study. HealthGrades’ goal is to provide prospective patients with the information they need to make health care decisions, Peck said.

Northside, which officials said had no One-Star ratings, received Five-Star ratings in several categories including: Cardiology services, coronary interventional procedures, heart attack, heart failure treatment, overall critical care, treatment of sepsis, hip fracture repair, and treatment of gastro-intestinal bleeding.

Peck said the study revealed that overall mortality rates in hospitals are declining, but that the gap in mortality rates between the one-star and the Five-Star hospitals is widening.

For instance, Peck said there is a 71 percent lower chance of dying in a five-star hospital than in a one-star hospital, and a 52 percent lower chance of dying in a five-star hospital than a hospital meeting the national average with a three-star rating.

“It means people’s lives are being saved here,” he said.

The ratings are the result of work that started six or seven years ago, with emphasis in the areas of heart attack care, said Dr. Jon W. Arnott, senior vice president for quality and utilization management and co-chief medical officer for the Western Reserve Care System.

“I believed there was no excuse for us not to be in the top 10 percent in the services we provide,” he said.

In accepting the award, Dr. Arnott credited and thanked all of the employees at Northside for helping meet the goal and “provide the Mahoning Valley with the highest level of health care based on national standards.”

alcorn@vindy.com