FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: December 13, 2019
CONTACT: (916) 654-3304
Sacramento, CA – On December 13, 2019, California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, along with Cal Hospital Compare, recognized hospitals across California for their high performance in maternity care, patient safety, and commitment to safe opioid care.
• 36 hospitals met performance standards in both maternity care and patient safety.
• 134 hospitals met performance standards in maternity care.
• 77 hospitals met performance standards in patient safety.
• 60 hospitals are being recognized for participating in the pilot year of the opioid care honor roll program.
“Improving the quality of patient care in hospitals is critically important,” said Dr. Ghaly. “These annual measurements through Cal Hospital Compare allow us to acknowledge hospitals doing excellent work and also inform hospitals when improvement is needed.”
“Cal Hospital Compare is proud to contribute to the statewide effort to improve quality in the hospital setting by providing a roadmap and way to evaluate performance for hospitals in the important areas of maternity, patient safety, and opioid care– and show where improvement is needed,” said Bruce Spurlock, MD, the executive director of Cal Hospital Compare. “We invite all California hospitals to use these honor rolls as a tool to evaluate and benchmark performance against other hospitals.”
Cal Hospital Compare, a nonprofit organization, has been providing Californians with objective hospital performance ratings for more than a decade. For the last four years, California has also recognized hospitals that meet or surpass a statewide target of C-section rates of 23.9 percent for low-risk, first-births. For mothers, overuse of C-sections can result in higher rates of complications like hemorrhage, transfusions, infection, and blood clots. The surgery also brings risks for babies, including higher rates of infection, respiratory complications, neonatal intensive care unit stays, and lower breastfeeding rates. The California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative collects the data and actively works with hospitals to safely reduce low-risk C-sections. Between 2014 and 2018, the percentage of California hospitals meeting the target went from 40 percent to 57 percent, representing 134 hospitals statewide. While there is still significant opportunity for improvement, the fact that so many hospitals have already reached or surpassed this target indicates that reducing unnecessary C-sections is a top priority for California hospitals providing maternity care.
Cal Hospital Compare is also releasing its first Patient Safety Honor Roll today, recognizing 77 hospitals with high safety profiles in comparison to other California hospitals. Cal Hospital Compare has rigorously evaluated a set of publicly available patient safety measures to evaluate hospitals across several areas in patient safety, including hospital acquired infections, adverse events, sepsis management, patient experience, and more.
This year Cal Hospital Compare launched the Opioid Care Honor Roll to help address the ongoing opioid crisis. According to state data, nearly 2,200 Californians died of an opioid-related overdose in 2017. Patients with opioid use disorder are frequently hospitalized or visit the emergency department due to complications of the condition without also receiving treatment for the underlying disease of opioid addiction. This is a missed opportunity and leaves patients untreated and at high risk of future overdose. In this pilot year of the program, 60 hospitals voluntarily reported their progress on addressing the opioid crisis. While results show that all participating hospitals are making progress, it is clear more work is needed. In 2020, Cal Hospital Compare will continue to offer learning opportunities to support the rapid spread of evidence-based practices among hospitals.
“I encourage all hospitals to participate in the Opioid Care Honor Roll program next year,” said Dr. Ghaly. “Participating in the Opioid Care Honor Roll demonstrates a hospital’s commitment to treating opioid use disorder and reducing deaths from addiction.”
The California Health and Human Services Agency and Cal Hospital Compare recognize the following 36 hospitals for achieving recognition on the Maternity and Patient Safety Honor Rolls.
For more information on individual honor rolls and recipients, please refer to the Cal Hospital Compare website here.
36 Hospitals with Maternity and Patient Safety Honor Roll Status
Hospital Name, City
Adventist Health Bakersfield, Bakersfield
Adventist Health Clear Lake, Clearlake
Adventist Health Hanford, Hanford
Barton Memorial Hospital, South Lake Tahoe
Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Inglewood
Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura
Doctors Hospital of Manteca, Manteca
Doctors Medical Center of Modesto, Modesto
El Camino Hospital Los Gatos, Los Gatos
French Hospital Medical Center, San Luis Obispo
John Muir Medical Center – Walnut Creek Campus, Walnut Creek
Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, Downey
Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, Fontana
Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center, Fresno
Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center, Modesto
Kaiser Permanente Orange County – Anaheim Medical Center, Anaheim
Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center, Panorama City
Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center, Redwood City
Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center, Riverside
Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center, Roseville
Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, Santa Clara
Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, Sacramento
Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, Vallejo
Memorial Hospital Los Banos, Los Banos
PIH Health Hospital – Whittier, Whitter
Redwood Memorial Hospital, Fortuna
Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, Chula Vista
St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Red Bluff
St. Louise Regional Hospital, Gilroy
Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Lakeport
Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Roseville
Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, Santa Rosa
Sutter Solano Medical Center, Vallejo
UC Irvine Health, Orange
UC San Diego Health – Hillcrest, UC San Diego Medical Center, La Jolla
UCLA Medical Center – Santa Monica, Santa Monica
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