Member News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 8, 2009

Silver Cross Named to National 100 Top Hospitals List for 5 Years in a Row

For the fifth straight year, Silver Cross Hospital was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuters Healthcare, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.

The award recognizes hospitals that have achieved excellence in clinical outcomes, patient safety, patient satisfaction, financial performance and operational efficiency. Silver Cross is the only hospital in Illinois to win the award for all of the last five years.

"Silver Cross’ fifth straight Top 100 award is a testament to the dedication of the hospital’s doctors, nurses, clinicians and employees," says Dr. Daniel Gutierrez, Chairman of the Silver Cross Hospital Board of Directors. "We work together to constantly measure, review and improve our performance to make it a great place to receive care."

According to Thomson Reuters Healthcare, only 9 hospitals in the nation have been recognized as a “100 Top Hospitals” winner for the last five consecutive years. And only 81 of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals have received the award five or more times.

A Significant Award
The 100 Top award looks at hospital-wide performance and is based on objective data that measures excellence across nine areas: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, patient satisfaction and adherence to clinical standards of care. The winners don’t apply for or pay for the award.

Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters says that the 100 Top Hospitals winners, including Silver Cross, raised the bar again this year, delivering a higher level of reliable care and greater value for their communities.

According to Chenoweth, "More than 107,500 additional patients would survive each year and nearly 132,000 patient complications would be avoided annually if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as patients at the 100 Top Hospitals. In addition, expenses would decline by .9 billion a year and the average patient stay would decrease by nearly half a day."

"At Silver Cross, we fee it is part of our mission to deliver higher quality care," said Paul Pawlak, President and CEO of Silver Cross Hospital. "This award means that Silver Cross Hospital has higher survival rates, less complications, a safer environment and higher patient satisfaction."

Everest Award Winner
In addition to winning the 100 Top Hospitals National Award, Silver Cross is also the recipient of the new 100 Top Hospitals Everest Award for National Benchmarks. This award recognizes those hospitals among the 100 National winners that delievers the greatest rate of improvement over a five-year period. Silver Cross is one of only 23 and the only hospital in Illinois to win the new award. Everest Award winners, including Silver Cross, are setting are national benchmarks for excellence in the industry.

For more information about the 100 Top Hospital awards, visit www.100tophospitals.com.

About Silver Cross Hospital
Silver Cross Hospital is a not-for-profit health care provider serving Will County and southwest suburban communities since 1895. Silver Cross has been recognized as a Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals National Award winner for the last four consecutive years and as one of America’s Most Customer Friendly Hospitals by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers. With over 2,500 employees, physicians and volunteers, Silver Cross operates a 304-bed acute care hospital and eight satellite facilities providing outpatient services and physician offices. Construction has begun to build a state-of-the-art replacement hospital opening in 2012 in New Lenox. To learn more about Silver Cross Hospital or a referral to a physician on staff, visit www.silvercross.org or call 1-888-660-HEAL (4325).