Leading Healthcare Ratings Company Recognizes all three campuses for Exceptional Quality in National Study

Richmond, VA, January 26, 2011 – Henrico, Parham and Retreat Doctors’ Hospitals are among only 268 hospitals nationwide to receive HealthGrades 2011 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™, and the only hospital in Virginia to sustain this recognition for nine consecutive years. These distinctions are based on an independent study released today by HealthGrades, the leading healthcare ratings company.

This prestigious distinction places Henrico Doctors’ Hospital among the top five percent of hospitals nationwide for clinical performance. According to the HealthGrades study, patients who receive care at a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence have overall a 29.82% lower risk of inhospital mortality.

For nine years now, HealthGrades has conducted the most comprehensive studies of hospital quality in America. Hospitals that receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence are those hospitals that excel across the 26 procedures and diagnoses rated.

“To receive this award is an honor,” said Pat Farrell, CEO of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital. “To receive it nine years in a row is a tribute to our entire clinical team of physicians, nurses and staff who consistently strive to put our patients first through their commitment to quality and patient care.”

The study also shows that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence outperformed all other hospitals across all of the 17 mortality cohorts and six of the nine complication cohorts studied from 2007 through 2009. In fact, if all hospitals performed at this level, 158,684 lives could potentially have been saved and 3,511 inhospital complications could potentially have been avoided.

“Henrico Doctors’ Hospital can be proud of the contributions of its physicians, nurses and staff in achieving outstanding patient care,” said Dr. Rick May, HealthGrades vice president of clinical quality services and co-author of the study. “The Richmond community is fortunate to have access to some of the highest quality hospital care in the nation.”

Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications. HealthGrades’ analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare discharges for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. Using these top-performing hospitals as a benchmark in this year’s HealthGrades study, HealthGrades quantifies the impact of differences in hospital quality in terms of lives lost and unexpected complications.

Richmond ENT performs inpatient procedures at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital .