For the fourth consecutive year, Piedmont Fayette Hospital (PFH) has been named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals by Solucient, a provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.

Piedmont Fayette Hospital is the only mid-sized (100 -149 beds) hospital in the state of Georgia to earn the distinction in the 2006 study and one of only two hospitals in the state to be recognized.

The “100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success” award is based on objective statistical performance measurement across five critical areas: clinical outcomes, patient safety, operational efficiency, financial performance and growth in patient volume.

The award is for organization-wide achievement, recognizing concerted effort by all levels of the organization including the board of directors, management team, medical staff and employees to achieve excellence. Balanced organizational performance reflects a hospital’s ability to provide sustainable and reliable healthcare services to its patients and community.

"This is a proud day for Piedmont Fayette Hospital employees, physicians, volunteers and Board members,” said Darrell Cutts, president and CEO of Piedmont Fayette Hospital. ”The 100 Top award recognizes the extraordinary work of the entire team in providing the best patient care and service."

The study uses a balanced scorecard approach, centered on nine key organization-wide measures: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, risk-adjusted patient safety, core measures score, severity-adjusted average length of stay, expense per adjusted discharge, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio and growth in patient volume.

For healthcare consumers, the award shows that Piedmont Fayette Hospital has been measured against all of the hospitals just like it in the nation. A 100 Top Hospitals winner ranks among the top 10 percent in the nation on hospital-wide performance when compared with its peers. Research has shown that hospital-wide teamwork, demonstrated by 100 Top Hospitals, produces a greater likelihood of a better outcome, higher satisfaction and more reasonable cost, as well as a lower likelihood of a medical error.

"This is a great way to begin celebrating Piedmont Fayette's 10th anniversary of service to the Fayette community, which occurs in September this year," said R. Timothy Stack, president and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare. "We appreciate and salute the entire team at the hospital for earning this distinguished honor. We take great pride in Piedmont Fayette’s recognition as one of the 100 Top Hospitals in the nation and congratulate Darrell Cutts and his extraordinary team of dedicated employees and physicians."

The Solucient study also reports:

· If all hospitals performed like the benchmark hospitals, more than 100,000 additional patients could survive each year, and an additional 114,000 could avoid complications.

· With 25 percent higher admissions per bed, benchmark hospitals treated more patients than non-winning hospitals and also treated patients who were sicker and required more complex treatment.

· The 100 Top Hospitals facilities spent an average of 12 percent less, per discharge, than peer hospitals.

More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com.

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