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St. Luke's Hospital Named an America's 50 Best Hospital for Third Year in a Row

St. Luke's is the only Missouri hospital to achieve this rating for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

CHESTERFIELD, MO, February 24, 2009 - Not once, not twice, but for the third consecutive year, St. Luke's Hospital is the only hospital in Missouri to be ranked a HealthGrades America's 50 Best Hospital™. The designation is based solely on clinical outcomes - mortality and complication rates for patients at each of the nation's nearly 5,000 non-federal hospitals. Hospitals cannot opt in or out of this independent analysis.

HealthGrades is an independent healthcare ratings organization, and it studied clinical data to determine St. Luke's ranks in the top one percent of all hospitals in the nation for quality outcomes. According to HealthGrades, patients admitted to an America's 50 Best Hospital are approximately 27 percent more likely to survive and eight percent less likely to suffer from a major complication.

"This achievement reflects consistency in the quality, compassionate care St. Luke's physicians, nurses, technicians, staff and volunteers provide our patients every day," said Gary Olson, St. Luke's Hospital president and chief executive officer. "Our team's commitment to providing the best possible care for each patient is the reason St. Luke's is ranked among the nation's best hospitals for clinical excellence."

To determine America's 50 Best Hospitals, HealthGrades analyzed more than 110 million Medicare hospitalization records from 1999 through 2007 from every hospital in the nation. Facilities must have demonstrated superior clinical outcomes, not just in one medical specialty, but across 26 different procedures and conditions, from hip replacement to bypass surgery. Also, they must have maintained this superior level of care year after year. America's 50 Best Hospitals for 2009 maintained quality levels among the top five percent in the nation for a minimum of six consecutive years.

"The hospitals who receive this distinction have figured out how to hardwire clinical excellence into the fabric of their organizations," said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and lead study author. "They are able to maintain superior levels of quality and excellence day after day, year after year."

In HealthGrades' latest study, St. Luke's is the only hospital in a ten state region (Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota) to be named one of America's 50 Best Hospitals.

About St. Luke's Hospital:
St. Luke's Hospital, located in Chesterfield, Missouri, is a premier, regional healthcare provider specializing in individualized care. The 493-bed, not-for-profit hospital offers more than 60 specialty areas including cardiovascular care and surgery, cancer care, neurosurgery and neurology, orthopedics, maternity and other women's health, general medicine, outpatient services, pediatrics and comprehensive surgical services. For more information, please visit www.stlukes-stl.com/newsroom .

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Click here for a video with more information about the rating.