NEW: Rapid City Regional named state's top ortho surgery hospital

By Journal Staff | Wednesday, March 02, 2005

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Rapid City - Rapid City Regional Hospital has been named the top orthopedic surgery hospital in South Dakota by a private company that analyzes Medicare data.

HealthGrades of Lakewood, Colo., announced the ranking at a press conference Wednesday morning at Rapid City Regional.

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NEW: Rapid City Regional named state's top ortho surgery hospital

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HealthGrades used data from 11 hospitals in South Dakota to arrive at its number one ranking for Rapid City Regional.

Rapid City Regional recently hired HealthGrades to help analyze and improve care, but HealthGrades spokesman Peter Sheehan said the ranking was based on data the company already had collected and analyzed.

HealthGrades uses Medicare data from 5,000 hospitals nationwide, and it includes records for outcomes for 12 million to 13 million patients a year.

The rankings were based the rate of "major complications" on six orthopedic surgeries, Sheehan said.

Dr. Mark Harlow, head of orthopedic surgery at Regional, said the results reflected efforts over the past seven years to analyze care at the hospital, adjust it where necessary to reflect "best medical practices" and to measure results by "patient outcomes."

Harlow credited everyone from "housekeeping to home care" at Rapid City Regional for helping the hospital get better results.

Streehan said the HealthGrades analysis puts Rapid City Regional among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide in orthopedic surgery.

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