SEATTLE – (April 5, 2016) –Virginia Mason today received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award for the fourth consecutive year and is the only medical center in Seattle and the Puget Sound area to reach this milestone.

Health Grades Outstanding Patient Experience Award Logo

The 2016 Outstanding Patient Experience Award positions Virginia Mason among the top 15 percent of medical centers in the United States for creating, through outstanding performance, a positive experience for patients during their hospital stay.

“When patients come to our hospital, they expect and deserve great service and a positive experience,” said Virginia Mason Chairman and CEO Gary S. Kaplan, MD. “This award is a testament to the dedication of all our team members in delivering on our commitment to ensure a truly remarkable experience for each patient.”

Healthgrades, an online resource for information about physicians and hospitals, evaluated 3,858 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to identify hospital performance. The surveys covered admissions from April 2014 through March 2015.

Healthgrades then evaluated performance by applying a scoring methodology to 10 patient experience measures, using data collected from a 32-question patient experience survey of the hospital’s own patients. The survey questions focus on patients’ perspectives of their care in the hospital. Question topics range from cleanliness and noise levels in patient rooms to factors such as pain management and responsiveness to patients’ needs. The measures also include whether a patient would recommend the hospital to friends or family.

“From the first call to make an appointment, to parking availability and friendliness of team members they meet in the halls, to the specific teams taking care of them, to the follow-up phone calls discussing care plans – it’s all part of the complete Virginia Mason experience,” Dr. Kaplan said.

To be recognized by Healthgrades, hospitals must meet eligibility requirements for consideration, which in addition to number of survey responses, includes clinical performance thresholds. Nationally, 2,965 hospitals met those requirements with 448 hospitals outperforming their peers, based on their patients’ responses in order to achieve this distinction.  

“Consumers are increasingly using patient experience and satisfaction as a measure to both evaluate hospitals and to select where they want to obtain care,” said Evan Marks, chief strategy officer, Healthgrades. “We commend those hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades 2016 Outstanding Patient Experience Award for delivering superior patient care experiences during their hospital stay.”

Virginia Mason also received the Outstanding Patient Experience Award in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The only other organizations in the state to receive the award for at least four consecutive years are Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee; Pullman Regional Hospital in Pullman and Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver.

For more information about Healthgrades or to download a full copy of the report or get information about hospital and physician quality, visit www.Healthgrades.com/quality.

About Virginia Mason Virginia Mason, founded in 1920, is a nonprofit regional health care system based in Seattle that serves the Pacific Northwest. In the Puget Sound region, the system includes 336-bed Virginia Mason Hospital; a primary and specialty care group practice of more than 480 physicians; regional medical centers in Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Federal Way, Kirkland, Issaquah and Lynnwood; Bailey-Boushay House, the first skilled-nursing and outpatient chronic care management program in the U.S. designed and built specifically to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS; Benaroya Research Institute, which is internationally recognized for autoimmune disease research; and Virginia Mason Institute, which trains health care professionals and others from around the world in the Virginia Mason Production System, an innovative management methodology for continually improving quality, safety and efficiency. Virginia Mason online: VirginiaMason.org

Virginia Mason also includes Yakima-based Memorial Family of Services and Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, a 226-bed facility serving the Yakima Valley in Central Washington since 1950. Memorial Family of Services comprises primary care practices and specialty care services, including high quality cardiac care, a continuum of cancer care, hospice care, and advanced services for children with special health care needs. Memorial online: YakimaMemorial.org

Media Contact:
Gale Robinette
Media Relations Manager
Virginia Mason Health System
(206) 341-1509
gale.robinette@VirginiaMason.org

 

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