News

Pardee ranked No. 7 nationally in patient safety

Pardee CEO Jay Kirby and Chief Medical Officer Robert Kiskaddon in a file photo from 2013.

By Bill Moss, Published: March 28, 2014

On the heels of other reports that ranked Pardee Hospital highly for quality of care, surgery and affordability, the Henderson County-owned facility has notched a national ranking. It's one of the safest hospitals in America, Consumer Reports magazine said.

The magazine said it used information from government and independent sources to rank 1,159 hospitals in 44 states. Researchers also relied on interviews of patients, physicians, hospital administrators and safety experts and reviews of medical literature, hospital inspections and investigations to compile the report, Pardee said in a news release.
Pardee scored a 73 on a 100-point scale with the average hospital scoring just 51 points. Its total of 73 points placed Pardee in a tie for seventh best with eight other hospitals. The safest hospital was tiny Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, Maine, with 78. Four hospitals at the bottom each had 25 points.
"These scores are important for the men and women of our communities to know," Pardee CEO Jay Kirby said in a statement. "Where you choose to have your health care is as important as choosing to wear your seat belt. We take patient safety very seriously and this ranking highlights our commitment to our patients."
A September 2013 issue of Consumer Reports listed Pardee as one of two hospitals receiving the best ranking in North Carolina for surgical care. In its March issue Business North Carolina magazine ranked Pardee in its Top 25 Best Hospitals list.
"Our latest safety ranking is yet another acknowledgment of our long-standing, continuous commitment to maintain the highest clinical quality and safety for our patients," Kirby said. "I'm proud of this organization and of the talent and dedication that our medical staff and hospital team members are consistently being recognized for."

Consumer Reports ratings "come from scientifically based data on patient experience and outcomes gathered from public sources," the magazine says on its website. "Some of that information is available elsewhere. For example, you can see the federal government's version of patient experience and readmissions data on its Hospital Compare website. Similarly, a number of states report data on hospital-acquired infections. But ConsumerReports.org collects all the information and summarizes it in an easy-to-interpret format, using our familiar ratings symbols."