The Patient Safety Excellence Award

The Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award is based on an analysis of inpatient MedPAR data that measures a hospital's clinical performance across 13 different patient safety indicators (PSIs), which each represent a serious, potentially preventable complication.

To be eligible for the award, hospitals are required to meet certain clinical quality thresholds, have no instances of a foreign object being left behind during a procedure, and report data on at least seven out of eight core PSIs.

The top 10% of evaluated hospitals receive the Patient Safety Excellence Award, and this year, 444 hospitals were awarded the honor.

According to a Healthgrades' analysis, patients at awarded hospitals were less likely to experience several safety events than patients at hospitals that were not recognized, including:

• In-hospital fall resulting in fracture (around 52% less likely)
• Collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest (around 56% less likely)
• Pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital (around 67% less likely)
• Catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital (around 71% less likely)

See the full list of award recipients here.

The Outstanding Patient Experience Award

For the Outstanding Patient Experience Award, Healthgrades evaluated 2,575 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to CMS, covering admissions from January 2022 to December 2022. Hospitals in the bottom 20% for overall clinical quality were excluded from consideration.

The top 15% of evaluated hospitals receive the Outstanding Patient Experience Award, and this year, 388 hospitals were awarded the honor.

Healthgrades' analysis found that three patient experience ratings best predicted whether a patient will recommend a hospital to friends and family:

• Doctor communication
• Nurse communication
• Clear communication about care when discharged

"As consumers take a more hands-on approach to their healthcare journeys, hospital quality should be a top consideration when choosing where to receive care," said Brad Bowman, CMO and head of data science at Healthgrades. "Our goal at Healthgrades is to offer direct, data-driven insights on the hospitals that make the safety and experience of their patients a top priority and consistently deliver exceptional results in this aspect of care. With this information, consumers can feel confident they're making the most informed decisions about their healthcare."

See the full list of award recipients here.

(Healthgrades press release, 3/12; Healthgrades Patients Safety Excellence Award list, accessed 3/12; Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award list, accessed 3/12)

Download our cheat sheets for summaries on the methodology and metric categories used in some of the biggest hospital quality rating programs.