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 TITUSVILLE, FLA. (Feb. 24, 2016) —A just-released ranking of America’s safest hospitals places Parrish Medical Center at No. 17 in the survey’s 100-400 beds category.

The SafeCare Group’s  2016 ‘Top 100 SafeCare Hospitals®’ listing named PMC–a Parrish Healthcare integrated care partner–one of the country’s safest hospitals for the second straight year. In 2014, Consumer Reports named PMC Florida’s safest hospital. “This is the latest evidence that our network of healthcare professionals is providing the patients we are honored to serve with superior levels of quality, safety and healing patient experiences, while also lowering health costs,” said George Mikitarian, PMC president and chief executive officer. “This shows we place the health and well-being of our patients above all else.”

According to The SafeCare Group, “the 100 SafeCare Hospitals® represents the nation’s top performing hospitals in 40 evidence-based metrics of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ value-based programs, readmissions reduction, and hospital acquired conditions programs.”

PMC’s spot on the list was earned through superior patient care, according to Yisrael M. Safeek, The SafeCare Group’s president and chief executive officer. “If all U.S. hospitals attained the 100 SafeCare Hospitals® level, there would be improvement in the more than 400,000 preventable patient deaths and millions of preventable complications that occur each year,” Dr. Safeek wrote in a congratulatory message to PMC.

Mikitarian said that those statistics show that PMC’s safety record is preventing deaths. “The 400,000 figure translates to about 700 preventable deaths in Brevard County annually,” Mikitarian said. “That’s why safety is so critical to patients and their families, and why we work so hard and measure ourselves so carefully. It’s also the reason the government, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  and other healthcare rating organizations such as The SafeCare Group, are publicly reporting safety and quality statistics. It enables Americans and Brevard residents to know which hospitals are proving to be high quality, safe and lower cost.”

A national healthcare debate centers on improving clinical quality, providing safe patient care and meeting patients’ healthcare experience expectations while also working to reduce overall healthcare costs through clinical integration. “Ratings by The SafeCare Group, The Joint Commission, the CMS, The LeapFrog Group, and others serve to bring to the forefront those who are top performers and those who aren’t,” said Mikitarian.

“There’s great information available today to enable people to go past what hospitals say about themselves and instead find objective, highly researched, carefully measured information that will enable them to choose their health care providers  based on quality, safety and cost,” Mikitarian added.

PMC was selected to The Top 100 SafeCare Hospitals” list based upon superior performance with Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), Core [quality] Measures, 30-Day Mortality rates, 30-Day Readmissions, Complications Rates in Medical and Surgical Care, and Medical and Surgical Infections.