Newton Wellesley Hospital Among Best For Patient Safety, Experience

MASSACHUSETTS — Nine hospitals in Massachusetts are among hundreds nationwide recognized for safety and patient experience by Healthgrades, a comprehensive database of ratings and comparisons for physicians, hospitals and health care providers.

Awards announced Tuesday include the 2024 Patient Safety Excellence Award, which recognizes hospitals nationwide for high-quality care and prevention of serious safety events during hospital stays, and the 2024 Outstanding Patient Experience Award.

Only 79 of 444 hospitals nationwide received both awards.

The hospitals in Massachusetts that were among those recognized on either list include:

Patient Safety:

Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield

Falmouth Hospital, Falmouth

Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton

St. Anne's Hospital, Fall River

Patient Experience:

Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, Boston

Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston

Fairview Hospital, Great Barrington

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Milford Regional Medical Center, Milford

The Patient Safety Excellence Award was presented to the top 10 percent of hospitals, based on an analysis of required data reporting in 13 patient safety measures. Read more about the methodology.

Healthgrades said that if all hospitals observed the same protocols as those in this category, they could have avoided more than 97,000 patient safety events between 2020 and 2022, the report said. The analysis revealed that patients treated at recipient hospitals are less likely to experience the following safety events compared to patients treated at non-recipient hospitals:

• In-hospital falls resulting in fracture (approximately 52 percent less likely)
• Collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest (approximately 56 percent less likely)
• Pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital (approximately 67 percent less likely)
• Catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital (approximately 71 percent less likely).

For the patient experience awards, Healthgrades reviewed Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient survey data. Read more about the methodology. The 388 award recipients in this category represent the top 15 percent of eligible U.S. hospitals that provided best-in-class patient experiences during the January 2022 to December 2022 study period.

Experiences that made a difference to patients included communication with both doctors and nurses, as well as clear communication about follow-up care upon discharge.