Mercy Health Partners News

The Orthopedics Program at St. Mary’s Medical Center has been awarded the HealthGrades 2009 Specialty Excellence Award, placing it in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation for orthopedic care.  

HealthGrades is one of the nation’s leading healthcare ratings organizations, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians.

Receiving the five-star rating in four out of five categories evaluated by HealthGrades, Orthopedic specialty award was presented to St. Mary’s Medical Center for outstanding care in the following areas

·        Total knee replacement – Five Stars

·        Total hip replacement – Five Stars

·        Hip fracture repair – Five Stars

·        Back and neck surgery (spinal fusion) – Five Stars

·        Back and neck surgery (except spinal fusion) – Three Stars

The Five-Star ranking from HealthGrades indicted that performance was better than predicted and the difference was statistically significant. In the HealthGrades study, these orthopedic procedures received five-star designation in only 15 percent of the hospitals nationwide.

“St. Mary’s main priority is to provide quality healthcare you can trust, and the results of the HealthGrades study demonstrate our commitment to clinical excellence,” said Jerry Sanders, M.D, the chief medical officer for St. Mary’s and the other Mercy Health Partner facilities.

            “I salute the doctors, nurses and support staff at St. Mary’s who provide the highest quality healthcare to the citizens of Knoxville and East Tennessee everyday.  It is their work that made these outstanding ratings by HealthGrades possible,” Dr. Sanders said.

            St. Mary’s Medical Center is a member of Mercy Health Partners, the new healthcare system formed by the merger of St. Mary’s Health System and Baptist Health System of East Tennessee in 2008.  Mercy has seven hospitals and many other healthcare facilities that serve a 15-county area of East Tennessee.

            More than 1,000 of the area’s top physicians are on the staffs at Mercy hospitals.  These outstanding physicians are joined by more than 6,000 Mercy associates to provide compassionate care using the latest in state-of-the-art medical technology.

            For physician referral or to learn more about any Mercy services, please call the Ask Mercy information line at 632-5200.  More information on Mercy services and locations is available on the web at www.mercy.com.

-30-