All hospitals and their staff strive to provide safe and effective care for their patients. All hospitals have areas of procedures where they outperform expectations of clinical quality and others where they can improve. There is a subset, however, who demonstrate superior clinical outcomes across many different conditions and procedures. These hospitals are differentiated by their overall clinical excellence and have exhibited superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients across a broad spectrum of care. These hospitals are recognized by Healthgrades with its highest honor, the 2014 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence. This year, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System is honored to be one of them.

This recognition means St. Francis is among the top 5% of hospitals in the nation in terms of quality. As a group, hospitals who have earned this honor have an overall 26.4% lower risk adjusted mortality rate than hospitals without this honor. These hospitals also have a clear and formal framework for improving quality and have embedded quality into their culture.

"These achievements are an outstanding reflection of our total commitment to excellence in patient care," said Mark Nantz, CEO. "The Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence is HealthGrades' highest possible recognition; it is a tribute to the team approach of our physicians and staff to improve patient safety, assure the best possible patient outcomes and reduce costs."

In addition to the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, St. Francis received 46 - yes, 46 - additional awards from HealthGrades, ranging from excellence in Cardiac Care, Orthopaedics, Neuroscience, Pulmonary Medicine, Vascular Surgery, Gastrointestinal Care, Critical Care, and more.

Two of them include the Outstanding Patient Experience Award and the Top 10% in the Nation for Outstanding Patient Experience. St. Francis has won both of these awards each year for the past six years.

See an entire listing of our most recent HealthGrades awards>