Palisades Medical Center recently received high marks from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services in the 2006 New Jersey Hospital Performance Report.
The report ranks hospitals in their ability to treat patients in three areas: congestive heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia.
Those areas are the most common causes for hospital admissions in the United States.
The Hospital Performance Report is put together in order to see how the state’s hospitals score in the general acute care in those areas. The information is compiled by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services to help residents make appropriate decisions about their health care.
When it comes to treating congestive heart failure, Palisades Medical Center ranked No. 1 among all hospitals in Hudson County. It was No. 2 among Hudson County hospitals in terms of heart attack treatment (to Christ Hospital in Jersey City) and was ranked third in the treatment of patients who arrive with pneumonia (behind St. Mary of Hoboken and Christ).
Good hearts
“We are extremely pleased that the latest report acknowledges Palisades Medical Center for providing high quality medical care for the people of Hudson and southern Bergen Counties,” said Bruce J. Markowitz, the president and CEO of Palisades Medical Center. “We applaud our entire medical staff for their tireless efforts in helping Palisades reach these high standards of excellence in patient care. Our physicians, skilled nurses and devoted staff ensure that each patient receives the very best medical care.”
The latest scores show the trend of improvement that Palisades Medical Center has enjoyed over the last few years and the last two Hospital Performance Reports.
PMC has improved its hospital facilities, has expanded its clinical programs and services and added a host of new modern technologies to meet the changing health care needs of the patients.
Since the last report numbers were released in 2004, Palisades’ performance numbers have improved dramatically. For example, the hospital received a score of 53 percent in pneumonia treatment in 2004, but received a score of 91 percent this time.
The heart attack numbers went from 82 percent in 2004 to 95 percent in this report.
Correct diagnosis
Report scores are based on the percentage of eligible patients that received correct treatments and care in order to fully recover from their initial medical diagnosis upon entering the hospital’s emergency room.
The New Jersey Hospital Performance Report was established in 1996 to provide hospital quality information to patients, their families and health care professionals.
Especially in an area like Hudson County (especially North Bergen and Guttenberg), which has a high senior citizen population, it’s important for the residents to realize that they should not fear being transported to the local hospital in times of emergency medical care.
“The standard of care and the quality of care is insured to the residents of this community,” said Dr. Maria Bornia, the chief medical officer and vice-president in charge of medical affairs. “It is absolutely vital to give seniors a piece of mind that they will receive outstanding care from the community hospital. America is getting older by the minute and Baby Boomers like myself are becoming senior citizens. It’s vital to know that we have a hospital we can trust in our backyard.”
Room for improvement
While Bornia was ecstatic over the results, she is hopeful that the trend continues.
“We still have room for improvement,” Bornia said. “My hope is that we will achieve above a 90 percentile in all means and maintain that standard of care. We have already shown significant improvement for the current quarter, with the data I was presented with yesterday.”
Bornia hopes that local residents will consider Palisades Medical Center for all medical needs.
“We want to be the hospital of choice for care for all members of the community, not just seniors,” Bornia said.