CONSUMERS RANK SACRED HEART HIGHEST FOR QUALITY

For the 12th year in a row, National Research Corp. has named Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola as the area’s leader in quality health care and winner of the 2007 Consumer Choice Award.

Sacred Heart’s rating as the area’s top hospital for quality came from an independent national survey of area residents conducted by National Research Corporation (NRC). NRC is an independent nationwide leader in performance measurement with more than 20 years of experience in the field.

The company named Sacred Heart as winner of the Consumer Choice Award because Sacred Heart is being rated by area health care consumers as their top choice for:
•    Best overall quality
•    Best doctors
•    Best nurses
•    Best image

Consumers in 190 markets across the country rated hospitals in their areas through the written survey used to develop NRC’s Healthcare Market Guide. In the Pensacola area, residents surveyed ranked Sacred Heart as the most preferred hospital by a margin of more than 2 to 1 over competing hospitals. In the categories of orthopedic treatment/surgery, weight loss surgery, cancer treatment, heart care, and maternity/obstetrics care, Sacred Heart again was rated No. 1 by a similar margin.

“Our selection for this award is a great tribute to all who work at Sacred Heart, especially our physicians and nurses,” says Patrick J. Madden, president and CEO of Sacred Heart Health System. “We continue to look for ways to meet the growing needs of families throughout our region, from updating our facilities and services, such as recent enhancements in our Women’s Hospital, to adding new, more convenient offices to access our physicians in outlying communities.”

Each year, NRC honors those hospitals whose consumers rate as having the best quality and image, based on its nationally syndicated NRC Healthcare Market Guide study.

The Consumer Choice Award reflects the growing role consumer choice is playing in the healthcare field. “Consumers play an increasing role in selecting their healthcare facilities and services,” says Michael D. Hays, NRC’s Chief Executive Officer. “As more healthcare quality information is made publicly available, we expect this trend to increase. Organizations like Sacred Heart are selected for the Consumer Choice Awards by the community residents they serve. We are pleased to honor these facilities for their dedication quality healthcare in the eyes of their patients.”

The 2007/08 Healthcare Market Guide is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to measure hospital performance and preferences contains more consumer responses than NRC’s study. Results are carefully tabulated and analyzed to ensure that they reflect the views of citizens in the local communities that are surveyed.

The 225 winners of the Consumer Choice Award in cities across the country were announced in the magazine Modern Healthcare.  A complete list of winners can be found at www.nationalresearch.com.

Key services of Sacred Heart Health System include a 458-bed hospital in Pensacola, a Regional Heart and Vascular Institute, Children’s and Women’s Hospital, a Level II Trauma Center, a comprehensive Cancer Center, a home health agency, a 120-bed nursing home and a large regional network of primary care and specialty doctors stretching from Foley, Ala. to Panama City Beach, Fla.  Sacred Heart is part of Ascension Health, the nation’s largest system of not-for-profit health care facilities.

For more information, call (850) 416-7000 or visit online at www.sacred-heart.org.