METHUEN, MA - Holy Family Hospital has earned an “A” Hospital Safety Score from the Leapfrog Group for Fall 2015, as well as the top awards for stroke care, cardiac care, and women’s health care from Healthgrades. The awards place Holy Family Hospital among the Top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation.

The Hospital Safety Score, administered by The Leapfrog Group (Leapfrog), an independent industry watchdog, uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” score, representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. The score, compiled under the guidance of the nation’s leading experts on patient safety, is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families.

“We strive to hire highly qualified physicians and health care professionals because high quality training, dedication, and attention to detail are what keep patients healthier and safer,” said Holy Family Hospital President Joseph Roach.  “We’re proud of our team. These prestigious awards are a testament to the high quality care that’s being delivered to our patients every day.”

Holy Family Hospital also earned top national awards for stroke, women’s health, and cardiac care from Healthgrades, the leading online resource consumers use when researching a physician or hospital. Healthgrades evaluates hospital quality for 36 conditions and procedures based solely on clinical outcomes—risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications.  The analysis is based on more than 45 million Medicare medical claims records for the most recent three-year time period available from 4,500 hospitals nationwide, measuring hospital performance for the most common in-hospital procedures and conditions

Holy Family Hospital earned the Healthgrades Stroke Care Excellence Award for 2016, placing it in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation for treatment of stroke. One of only eight hospitals in Massachusetts to achieve the award, it also earned a Five-Star rating for treatment of heart attack for 2016 and treatment of heart failure for the third year in a row.

“We have invested heavily in emergency services that include treatment of heart attack, heart failure and stroke. From emergency care to inpatient care, outpatient follow-up  and testing, our patients have access highly qualified staff and state-of-the-art technology designed to save lives, such as our Telestroke program, ” said Roach. “Our investment has resulted in superior clinical outcomes for our patients and that’s where it counts most.”

Emergency services investments include a $21 million emergency center equipped with the latest technology including a $1 million Siemens Zee interventional radiology system for invasive procedures that require precision when accessing a blood vessel. The system is used for diagnosis and interventions for conditions such as a blocked artery or vein, including interventions for stent and angiographic procedures as well as cardiac catheterizations.

The hospital is a New England Regional Stroke Center equipped with the Telestroke Program which provides a secure videoconferencing network between Holy Family’s emergency room physicians and Massachusetts General Hospital so they can collaborate with Boston stroke neurologists in real-time.

”Patients from Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire have local access to the same level of expert stroke care that they would expect to receive in a major Boston medical center,” said Roach.

Holy Family Hospital also earned the Healthgrades 2015 Women’s Health Excellence Award for the third year in a row, placing it among the Top 10 Percent in the Nation for Women’s Heath for the third year in a row.

“Earning these national awards three years in a row is evidence that our hospital delivers high quality women’s health care, and that we do it consistently,” said Roach. “We have worked diligently to build a strong team of highly trained women’s health specialists. Our team, combined with advanced technologies improves patient care and patient outcomes. For example, our recent investment in 3-D mammography, considered the most exciting tool in breast cancer detection in over 30 years, helps detect breast cancer at its earliest stages when it’s most treatable.”

Holy Family Hospital’s women’s health team includes OB/GYNs, gynecologic surgeons, gynecologic cancer surgeons, general surgeons, breast care surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, and highly qualified technologists in the Breast Care Center.

Holy Family Hospital recently partnered with Dana-Farber Community Cancer Care, which is located on the hospital campus. Now women diagnosed with breast or gynecologic cancers will not only have access to state-of-the-art cancer treatment close to home, but improved access to clinical trials.