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New report from Healthgrades highlights TOH for excellence in orthopedic surgery, joint replacement and patient safety.

Press release provided by Lutheran Health Network.

The Orthopedic Hospital of Lutheran Health Network is one of America’s 100 best hospitals for orthopedic surgery and joint replacement according to a national study by Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.

These achievements are part of findings released in the Healthgrades 2019 Report to the Nation. In it, The Orthopedic Hospital was the only hospital in Indiana to be recognized by Healthgrades as a recipient of the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery Award™ and the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Joint Replacement Award™ in 2019. Also in 2019, the hospital was recognized for the third consecutive year as being among the top 5 percent in the nation for patient safety.

The new report demonstrates how clinical performance differs dramatically between hospitals nationally, regionally and at the local level; and the impact that this variation has on health outcomes. For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for almost 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures.

“Our ability as a hospital to demonstrate excellence in surgical care and patient safety sends an important message about our entire team’s total commitment to quality,” said Fort Wayne Orthopedics President Jerald Cooper, MD, medical director of outpatient services at The Orthopedic Hospital. “We are pleased that the hard work and accomplishments of our employees, providers and members of the leadership team have been validated in this way.”

For 2019, Healthgrades compared Specialty Excellence Award recipients as a group, and to all other hospitals as a group, and found from 2015 to 2017, patients treated at hospitals receiving the America's 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery Award have on average a 40.3 percent lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.

“Whether the care is delivered through traditional surgery or with the assistance of a robotic arm, we strive daily to make sure foundations for the best possible outcomes are in place,” said George Kolettis, MD, of Fort Wayne Orthopedics, who is the chairman of the board of trustees at The Orthopedic Hospital. “Each accolade received serves as an incentive for us to reach higher. That level of enthusiasm is energizing.”

In addition to these achievements, The Orthopedic Hospital is also a five-star recipient for total knee replacement for the eighth year in a row (2012-2019), a five-star recipient for total hip replacement for the ninth year in a row (2011-2019), and a five-star recipient for spinal fusion surgery for the ninth year in a row (2011-2019).

“Hospitals that have achieved the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery and Joint Replacement awards have proven their dedication to quality care and exceptional outcomes,” said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer at Healthgrades. “Consumers should consider hospital quality when navigating their care journeys, and this recognition distinguishes The Orthopedic Hospital of Lutheran Health Network in the marketplace.”

Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipient hospitals demonstrated excellent performance in safety provided for patients in the Medicare population, as measured by objective outcomes (risk-adjusted patient safety indicator rates) for 14 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, as compared to patients at non-recipient hospitals, on average:

• 55.9 percent less likely to experience an accidental cut, puncture, perforation or hemorrhage during medical care.
• 50.9 percent less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest.
• 64.4 percent less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital.
• 57 percent less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital.

In addition, if all hospitals in the country performed at the level of award recipients for each of the 14 patient safety indicators, 127,667 patient safety events could have been avoided.

Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected) categories.

The complete Healthgrades 2019 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology can be found at Healthgrades.com/Quality/.

Fort Wayne Orthopedics is the first in the region now offering Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Total Knee replacement application. Mako Total Knee combines Stryker’s advanced robotic technology with its clinically proven GetAroundKnee, Triathlon Total Knee System, which enabled surgeons to have a more predictable surgical experience with increased accuracy during laboratory testing.³

Total knee replacements in the United States are expected to increase 189 percent by 2030,¹ yet studies have shown that approximately 30 percent of patients are dissatisfied after conventional surgery.² Through CT-based 3D modeling of bone anatomy, our surgeons can now use the Mako System to create a personalized surgical plan based on a patient’s unique anatomy and to virtually modify the surgical plan intra-operatively as needed.

“Mako is changing the way joint replacement surgeries are performed by enabling surgeons to provide each patient with a personalized surgical experience based on their specific diagnosis and anatomy, “ said Dr. John Paul Manalo, Orthopedic Surgeon at Fort Wayne Orthopedics. “Our surgical team has information at our fingertips that we’ve never had access to before.”

Stryker’s Mako System is the first and only robotic technology that can be used across the joint replacement service line to perform total knee, total hip and partial knee replacements.

Our new offering of the Mako Total Knee application is a key demonstration of Fort Wayne Orthopedics’s commitment to provide the community with outstanding healthcare, and we are proud to be at the forefront of innovative robotic technology.