Evergreen Healthcare recently announced it has been named a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence for the fourth consecutive year by HealthGrades, which places the community-based healthcare organization among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationally for its quality patient care and superior clinical performance.

Evergreen is one of only five Washington hospitals to receive the prestigious award and the only hospital in the state to receive it for the last four years.

HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings provider, bestows this distinction annually on the nation’s top hospitals based on their clinical outcomes in risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complication rates.

Among their shared accomplishments, Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence show more than a 30 percent decrease in mortality rates among Medicare patients compared to all other hospitals, according to the “HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence” report.

“We are so proud to continue our tenure as a distinguished hospital and to be placed among an elite group of hospitals in the nation,” said Evergreen Healthcare CEO Bob Malte. “We hold the patient experience and the quality care they receive from our team to be the paramount goal of our entire organization.  To be recognized for our success in achieving that is gratifying indeed.”

Evergreen’s mission to provide unique and innovative care continues. In July 2011, Evergreen became the first comprehensive breast center in the Seattle area to offer revolutionary three-dimensional (3-D) mammography screening, known as tomosynthesis.

Tomosynthesis uses 3-D digital imaging to create a complete reconstruction of the breast, which gives radiologists the ability to identify abnormalities that are more difficult to identify with traditional 2-D mammography screening. As a result of more precise readings, the breakthrough technology reduces the need for follow-up appointments by up to 40 percent.

Evergreen’s history of serving the community with patient-friendly technology was most recently augmented by the introduction of MAKOplasty, a minimally invasive partial knee replacement surgical technology.

MAKOplasty joins Evergreen’s suite of technology for hip and knee replacement surgery, which includes arthroscopy, computer navigation and minimally invasive total knee replacement.

Together, these joint-surgery services provide patients with a range of options that allow lower complication rates, improved function, and allow faster rehabilitation after knee surgery, regardless of the surgical pathway that best fits their individual needs.

HealthGrades is the nation’s most trusted source of physician information and hospital quality ratings. It evaluates each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals in 26 procedures and diagnoses for this award.

Mortality and complication rates are risk adjusted, which takes into account differing levels of severity of patient illness at different hospitals and allows for hospitals to be compared equally.

To learn more about Evergreen Healthcare visit www.evergreenhealthcare.org or call the Evergreen Healthline at 425-899-3000.