Overlake Medical Center & Clinics awarded 2020 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award

Healthgrades has recognized Overlake Medical Center & Clinics as among the top 10% of Patient Safety Excellence Award (PSEA) recipients in the nation for the second year in a row. Overlake is the only hospital in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area to achieve this award the last two years in a row.

Healthgrades based this award on a review of 14 patient safety indicators within the Medicare inpatient population treated 4,500 hospitals across the U.S. Inpatient data was collected from the Medicare fiscal years 2016-2018 measuring “the rate at which serious, potentially preventable complications and adverse events occur,” according to Healthgrades’ methodology.

Overlake rated “better than expected” under the following events: pressure ulcer rate, postoperative respiratory failure rate, and postoperative sepsis rate. Those events translate to rate of pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, respiratory failure following surgery, and bloodstream infections following surgery.

Overlake’s Journey to Zero Harm program has reduced overall harm events by well over 50% since 2014. “For this fiscal year, our harm rate is lower than the goal we set forth before 2020. That is a true testament to our commitment to keep our patients safe and deliver exceptional, quality care,” said Dave Knoepfler, MD, chief medical officer at Overlake, “We take great pride in this achievement, and we are honored to be the only hospital in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area to receive this award the last two years in a row.”

“Patient safety ratings evaluate the safety and quality of care at a hospital by measuring the rate at which serious, potentially preventable complications and adverse events occurred in the hospital,” according to Healthgrades’ methodology report for patient safety excellence. In addition to outstanding scores through their methodology, there are extensive requirements for eligibility of Healthgrades’ Patient Safety Excellence Award. That includes a high standard quality threshold, zero occurrences of foreign objects left during surgery or procedure, adequate sample size for statistical evaluation, and robust data collection.

Healthgrades has assessed hospital quality for more than 20 years using the only outcomes-based ratings methodology.