MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center Named America's 100 Best for Gastrointestinal Care Nationally by Healthgrades

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center is one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for gastrointestinal (GI) care, along with multiple recognitions across various specialties according to new research released by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems. Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 31 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.*

"Consumers can feel confident in the America's 100 Best Hospitals for gastrointestinal care for their commitment to quality care and exceptional outcomes. The recognition helps provide peace of mind when selecting a place for care," said Brad Bowman, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of Data Science at Healthgrades.

The hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades America's 100 Best Hospitals for gastrointestinal services have demonstrated exceptional quality of care. Saddleback has been investing in its GI program with a focus on advanced, minimally invasive procedures, resulting in fewer complications and increased recovery time for patients. At the same time, Saddleback has streamlined the care of the ICU patient having colorectal and GI surgeries, introduced new supplies and upgrading our physician documentation. The care teams are committed to following the guidelines to manage gastrointestinal illness, resulting in the highest possible quality of care.

"We are proud and humbled to be recognized nationally as one of the best hospitals in the county for gastrointestinal care," says Catherine Shitara, chief operating officer, Saddleback Medical Center. "The gastrointestinal physicians and clinicians are committed to ensuring that patient experience and quality outcomes are paramount. I'm also extremely proud of the team for earning three excellence awards and two specialty 5-star awards. At Saddleback, quality, compassionate care always comes first."

Saddleback Medical Center was also recognized by Healthgrades for excellence awards in general surgery, gastrointestinal care and pulmonary care; and 2 specialty 5-star awards in valve surgery and treatment of heart failure. Saddleback Medical Center's sister hospital Orange Coast Medical Center received one excellence award in cardiac surgery and five specialty 5-star awards in coronary bypass surgery, treatment of heart attack, total knee replacement, hip fracture treatment and treatment of sepsis.

"MemorialCare has proudly served the Orange County community with leading healthcare for more than half a century," says Marcia Manker, chief executive officer, Orange Coast and Saddleback Medical Centers. "We've consistently been voted 'Best of Orange County' by our community and these latest Healthgrades achievements demonstrate that quality and safety metrics are embedded in MemorialCare's rich history of improving health outcomes across Orange County."  

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 31 common conditions and procedures and evaluated outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 16 states. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital's quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected), and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected). 

About MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center 

Saddleback Medical Center received U.S. News & World Report high performance rankings for Heart Attack, Congestive Heart Failure, Stroke, Diabetes, Aortic Aneurysm Repair, Knee Replacement, COPD, Kidney Failure and Pneumonia. It was named among America's 50 Best Hospitals, Top 50 U.S. Cardiovascular Hospitals, Orange County Register Best Orange County Hospitals and Top Workplaces; received Magnet Nursing Excellence designation and American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Stroke Care Gold Plus and among first U.S. hospitals earning Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center Certification and Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation. Centers of Excellence include cancer, heart, orthopedics, spine, neuroscience, gastroenterology, emergency and critical care, breast health, imaging, women's health, obstetrics, geriatrics, and minimally invasive and robotic-assisted surgery. Visit www.memorialcare.org/saddleback.

* Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2018 through 2020 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only. For appendectomy and bariatric surgery, Healthgrades used inpatient data from 16 states that provide all-payer data for years 2017 through 2019. Due to the highly variable impact of the pandemic on hospital outcomes, Healthgrades made the decision to exclude cases with a COVID-19 diagnosis from the 2020 data in order to preserve the statistical integrity of our models and fairly evaluate clinical outcomes at all hospitals. To view the complete methodology, please visit: https://www.healthgrades.com/quality/ratings-awards/methodology

SOURCE MemorialCare Health System