St. Vincent's Medical Center is one of only 269 hospitals to receive a nationally recognized award that conducts an independent study of quality. It is the fourth year in a  row for SVMC to be honored with the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award and SVMC ranks in the top 5 percent for overall clinical quality.

Each year HealthGrades conducts the most comprehensive studies of hospital quality in America, producing ratings for every non-federal hospital in 27 diagnoses and procedures. Hospitals that receive the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence are those that place among the top 5 percent nationally when all 27 ratings are aggregated into a comprehensive score.

The study also shows that Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence are improving at a greater rate in more procedures and diagnoses than all other hospitals, lowering risk-adjusted mortality rates over the years 2004, 2005, 2006 by an average of 15 percent.

Learn more about the 2008 Methodology for the Distinguished Hospital Award - Clinical Excellence (.pdf)