Bay Medical makes national list of best hospitals

Nine hospitals in Florida, including the Bay Medical Center in Panama City, made the annual list of "America's 50 Best Hospitals Report," by HealthGrades, a health care rating company.

Hospitals on the list "demonstrated superior clinical quality for the most consecutive years," from 2003 to 2008. The results were based on Medicare data on mortality, in-hospital complications, and HealthGrades' Distinguished Hospital Award in clinical excellence, according to the report.

"Bay Medical is continually working to improve our quality of care by examining the best practices seen at other facilities and implementing programs here to put those best practices in place," said Christa Dean Hild, marketing and public relations manager.

The report specifically focused on 27 procedures and diagnosis, including heart attack, hip fracture, pneumonia and stroke, but excludes cancer.

Bay Medical was one of only 41 hospitals in the nation with a better (lower) than average death rate for pneumonia during the 2006-07 time period and was one of only 38 hospitals with a better than average rate for heart failure during the 2005-06 time period.  The death rate includes patients who pass away within 30 days of their hospital discharge for each of the three conditions, according to the report.

"Quality is a major focus of our administration and our board of trustees and we monitor our compliance with these best practices to make sure we maintain that quality and then we set the bar even higher," said Hild.

According to Hild, Bay Medical Center specializes in heart care and offers open heart surgery and angioplasty for heart attack victims.

"We have the most comprehensive program in this area," said Hild. "The next step is using robotic technology to do heart procedures in a less invasive way."