Blanchard Valley Hospital, Findlay, an Icon advertiser, has been named a recipient of the 2012 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence AwardTM. This means that BVH has earned patient safety ratings that are in the top 5% of U.S. hospitals.

This is the third consecutive year BVH has received this award. This year, Blanchard Valley is one of only 15 hospitals in Ohio and one of only 263 hospitals in the country to receive this designation.

The HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award is based on a study released by HealthGrades. The study analyzed nearly 40 million hospitalization records from approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide that participate in the Medicare program to determine how each hospital fared in preventing 13 of the most avoidable patient safety events. Through the study, BVH was found to be in the top 5% in the country at preventing these events.

Blanchard Valley's status in this report is significant because Medicare patients treated at BVH and other Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals are 48% less likely to experience one of the 13 preventable safety events compared to those treated at hospitals in the bottom 5% for patient safety. Across the nation, this means that if all hospitals performed at BVH's level of distinction, approximately 254,000 patient safety events and 56,367 deaths among Medicare patients could have been avoided.

To determine each hospital's patient safety ranking, HealthGrades uses Medicare inpatient data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) database and Patient Safety Indicator software from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). All analysis was based on data from 2008 to 2010. These indicators identify the best-performing hospitals, which represent the top 5% of all U.S. hospitals and are this year's HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients.

The 13 patient safety events analyzed for this study are:
. Death in procedures where mortality is usually very low
. Pressure or bed sores acquired in hospital
. Death following a serious complication after surgery
. Foreign object left in body during a procedure
. Collapsed lung due to procedure or surgery in or around chest
. Catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at hospital
. Hip fracture following surgery
. Hemorrhage or hematoma resulting from procedure or surgery
. Electrolyte and fluid imbalance following surgery
. Respiratory failure following surgery
. Deep blood clots in lungs or legs following surgery
. Sepsis following surgery
. Breakdown of abdominal incision site

HealthGrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make an informed decision about a physician or hospital, developed this award to give patients more information about choosing a hospital. Participation in the HealthGrades study is not voluntary. Hospitals cannot choose to opt out of the analysis.

More information on HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award and the ratings methodology is available at HealthGrades.com.