HealthGrades Excellence Award  is again given to local hospital.

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center has received the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award for the third year in a row. In announcing the honor, HealthGrades stated that Providence Holy Cross is again in the top 5 percent for overall clinical quality among all hospitals in the nation.

 A study released by HealthGrades which is the nation's leading health care ratings company, indicates the 269 hospitals nationally that received this award had mortality rates that were, on average, 27percent lower than other hospitals, and major complication rates that were 5 percent lower.

"Patient safety and the quality of care is always our number one priority, and the HealthGrades award proves the success of our efforts to continually improve quality," said Bernard Klein, M.D. Chief Medical Officer for Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.  "While we are honored to receive this distinction for the third straight year, we will not rest on our laurels but will continually work to improve the medical care we provide."

The HealthGrades study shows that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence are improving at a greater rate in more procedures and diagnoses than all other hospitals, lowering risk-adjusted mortality rates over the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by an average of 15 percent.

"Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence like Providence Holy Cross Medical Center have proven that it is possible to deliver top-notch medical care, and they should be recognized for their outstanding achievement," said Samantha Collier, M.D., HealthGrades' chief medical officer.

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is one of only 14 hospitals in California and 155 hospitals nationwide to receive the Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence Award three years in a row.

HealthGrades also announced other awards for Providence Holy Cross Medical Center that ranks it in the in the top 10 percent of all hospitals nationally for pulmonary, stroke, women's and gastrointestinal care.  The awards are:

• Recipient of the HealthGrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award – Five Years in a Row, 2004-2008 (top 5 percent in nation)

•  Recipient of the HealthGrades Stroke Care Excellence Award – Four Years in a Row, 2005-2008

• Recipient of the HealthGrades Women's Care Excellence Award – Three Years in a Row, 2005, 2007/07, 2007/08

• Recipient of the HealthGrades Gastrointestinal Care Excellence Award – Two Years in a Row, 2007-2008

Each year, HealthGrades conducts comprehensive studies of hospital quality in America, producing ratings for every non-federal hospital (a total of 4,971) in 27 diagnoses and procedures.  HealthGrades analyzed almost 41 million Medicare hospitalization records that cover the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Hospitals that receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence are those hospitals that place among the 5 percent nationally when all 27 ratings are aggregated into a comprehensive score.

HealthGrades estimates that 171,424 lives could have been saved over the three years studied if all Medicare patients were treated at Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.

The complete list of 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award recipients and ratings of all hospitals are available at www.healthgrades.com.

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is a  254-bed, not-for-profit facility, Providence Holy Cross Center in Mission Hills offers a full continuum of health services, from outpatient to inpatient to home health care.