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HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a donor organ. HealthGrades annual evaluation of the nation’s top-performing hospitals in organ transplantation includes clinical quality data, based on patient outcomes, for each of the 210 adult acute care hospitals that perform transplants.

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A new independent study by HealthGrades of patient outcomes at America’s hospitals found that patients at 5-star rated hospitals had a 72% lower risk of dying when compared with patients at 1-star-rated hospitals.

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Hospital-acquired infections are the leading cause of potentially preventable mortality among pediatric patients, according to a study of pediatric patient-safety incidents issued today by HealthGrades, the leading independent health care ratings organization.

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Complication rates for vaginal and C-section deliveries can vary widely from one hospital to the next according to a study released today by HealthGrades, the leading independent health care ratings organization. Along with the study, quality ratings of maternity programs for every hospital in the 19 states that make maternity care information public are now available at www.healthgrades.com.

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The quality of emergency medical care at the nation’s hospitals varies widely – both individually and by state – according to a new HealthGrades study released today that, for the first time, examines mortality rates for patients entering hospitals through emergency departments.

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Hospitals providing the best patient experience in the nation, according to surveys of their patients overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, were identified today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, and posted to its website, www.healthgrades.com.

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The number of bariatric surgeries in the U.S. skyrocketed from 13,386 in 1998 to 220,000 in 2008, but a new study released today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, finds that the nation’s hospitals have wide variances in both complication rates and lengths of stay, which largely correlate with the number of times the hospital performs bariatric procedures.

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Women and men experience different outcomes at U.S. hospitals for the same procedures and treatments, according to a new study released today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. The HealthGrades Seventh Annual Women’s Health in American Hospitals study also identified hospitals in the top 5% in women’s care through an analysis of nearly 7 million hospitalization records from all of the nation’s nearly 5,000 nonfederal hospitals.

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Nearly one million patient-safety incidents occurred among Medicare patients over the years 2006, 2007, 2008, a figure virtually unchanged since last year’s annual study of patient safety by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. In all, the incidents were associated with $8.9 billion in costs. One in ten patients -- 99,180 individuals -- experiencing a patient-safety incident died as a result, the study found.

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The largest annual study of patient outcomes at each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals found a wide gap in quality between the nation’s best hospitals and all others. According to the study, issued today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, patients at highly rated hospitals have a 52 percent lower chance of dying compared with the U.S. hospital average, a quality chasm that has persisted for the last decade even as mortality rates, in general, have declined.