In partnership with Steindler Orthopedic Clinic, Mercy Iowa City achieves two specialty excellence awards
Orthopedic Surgery and Joint Replacement care at Mercy Iowa City is among the top 10% in the nation as measured by volume-weighted performance according to this year’s evaluation from Healthgrades, the leading online resource helping consumers make informed decisions in order to find the right doctor, the right hospital for the right care. Every year Healthgrades evaluates performance at nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 34 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.*
All joint and orthopedic procedures at Mercy Iowa City are performed by the orthopedic surgeons at Steindler Orthopedic Clinic. This longstanding partnership begun in 1945 by Dr. Arthur Steindler is devoted to delivering exceptional care to patients in southeast Iowa. Mercy Iowa City, in partnership with Steindler Orthopedic Clinic, is the only hospital in the state of Iowa to receive Healthgrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award™ and the Joint Replacement Excellence Award™ in 2017—which is a testament to all of the care providers at both organizations.
This achievement is part of findings released by Healthgrades and is featured in their 2017 Report to the Nation. The new report demonstrates how clinical performance continues to differ dramatically between hospitals regionally and nationally.
This variation in care has a significant impact on health outcomes. For example, from 2013-2015, if all hospitals as a group, performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average 223,412 could potentially have been saved and 162,215 complications could potentially have been avoided.** A 5-star rating indicates that a hospital’s clinical outcomes are statistically significantly better than expected when treating the condition or performing the procedure being evaluated.
From 2013-2015, a patient treated at a hospital receiving the Joint Replacement Specialty Excellence Award have, on average, 55.6% lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award**.
“Together Mercy Iowa City and Steindler Orthopedic Clinic have successfully achieved many years of recognition from Healthgrades, Blue Cross Blue Shield and others for the excellence of the orthopedic surgery program,” said Mike Heinrich, interim President and CEO of Mercy Iowa City. “Knowing that this is the only program in the State of Iowa to achieve both Healthgrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award™ and Joint Replacement Excellence Award™ in 2017 is a credit to the extraordinary contributions of every member of the patient care team at both Mercy and Steindler.”
“Steindler Orthopedic has been a proud partner of Mercy Iowa City for many years,” said Jerald Forrester, CEO and President of Steindler Orthopedic Clinic. “We are thrilled that this partnership has been recognized for the exceptional patient care provided at our clinic and in the hospital. The fact that Mercy is the only hospital in the State of Iowa to receive this award is a testament to the providers at Steindler and the above excellent care our patients receive from the doctors and patient care teams.”
Many processes are in place to consistently achieve these results including, but not exclusive to: concurrent review of procedures to address any issue in real time; multidisciplinary team meetings that include the surgeons and care team; regular collaborative Orthopedic Service Line meetings with Steindler Orthopedic Clinic and Mercy; and a process between a patient’s primary care physician, orthopedic surgeon and the hospital staff to make sure patients are optimized for surgery.
This is the 9th year in a row that Healthgrades has recognized Mercy Iowa City in the top 10% in the Nation for Joint Replacement (2009-2017).
Optional Healthgrades quote: “Consumers have many choices regarding where to receive their healthcare, which is why it’s so vital that they understand outcomes performance at specific hospitals for specific conditions and procedures,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades. “Those hospitals that have achieved a specialty excellence distinction in Orthopedic Surgery and Joint Replacement from Healthgrades exemplify a commitment to exceptional quality of patient care.”
*For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 32 common conditions and procedures, as well as an evaluation of comparative outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 18 states. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected) categories. The complete Healthgrades 2017 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.
About Mercy Iowa City
Mercy Iowa City is an acute care hospital and regional referral center that draws patients from throughout southeast Iowa. Mercy has 234 acute care beds, 25 private rooms for outpatient surgery, 26 bed nursery with a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 27 primary and specialty care clinics, a medical staff of 250 physicians representing all major medical specialties and most sub-specialties and 1,440 employees. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1873 and sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy Chicago for many years, until they joined the Sisters of the West-Midwest Community in 2008.
About Steindler Orthopedic Clinic
Steindler Orthopedic Clinic has been the experienced leader in providing exceptional orthopedic care to patients suffering from bone, joint, and muscle injuries and conditions since the foundation of the clinic in 1945. The specialty-trained doctors are dedicated to providing specialized care to patients throughout Southeastern Iowa through our primary location in Iowa City, IA and four outreach clinics in Fairfield, IA, Muscatine, IA, Sigourney, IA and Washington, IA.
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**Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2013 through 2015 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.