Dixon’s KSB Hospital receives its second patient safety award after Healthgrades evaluation

DIXON — Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital announced Tuesday it received the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award for the second consecutive year.

The award makes KSB Hospital the only hospital in the Rockford Region to receive this distinction from Healthgrades, which operates a database of health care providers and physicians and rates them, the news release said.

The award recognizes KSB Hospital as being in the top 10% of all short-term acute care hospitals.

According to KSB, the patient safety success results from a plan that integrates formal policies, staff training, ongoing monitoring, and feedback systems.

For instance, KSB established a Falls Committee to identify areas of risk for patients, raising the visibility of fall prevention techniques and procedures. Staff members take part in daily safety huddles. Employees are also encouraged to report quality concerns and near-miss incidents.

“When patients seek medical services, the patient safety culture of their healthcare provider should not be a top-of-the-mind concern,” said David Schreiner, KSB President, and CEO.

Schreiner said in the news release the award “validates our efforts to prioritize patient safety at the top of the list of all we do.”

Based on evaluations conducted nationwide from 2019-2021 of Medicare patients, Healthgrades found that 74% of patient safety events involve hip fractures because of an in-hospital fall, collapsed lungs after a procedure, bed sores or catheter-related infections. It’s methodology is is based on performance graded against that data.

“Through our 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Awards, we seek to recognize hospitals that excel in providing top-quality care for their patients while preventing serious injuries during hospital stays,” said Brad Bowman, chief medical officer and head of data science for Healthgrades. “We are proud to name Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital as a 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient and look forward to their continued efforts to make patient safety a top priority.”

Consumers can visit healthgrades.com for more information on how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and access the complete methodology here.