Wyandotte Hospital Honored for Its Emergency Care

Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital has been named one of the state’s best in providing emergency care.

A report issued Tuesday by HealthGrades analyzed patients admitted to hospital emergency rooms across the country from 2008 to 2010.

Researchers studied the mortality rates for more than 4,000 hospitals for 12 medical emergency conditions: bowel obstruction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetic acidosis coma, gastrointestinal bleed, heart attack, heart failure, pancreatitis, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.

The 263 hospitals in the top 5 percent had a 41.7 percent lower mortality rate than the rest of the hospitals studied. For that, HealthGrades has designated them as Emergency Medicine Excellence Award hospitals.

The Detroit area ranked 10th on the list in terms of the number of hospitals ranked for excellent emergency care.

“It is imperative that anyone experiencing a medical emergency go directly to the closest hospital, especially in the event of a heart attack or stroke,” said Dr. Arshad Rahim, report author and Director of Accelerated Clinical Excellence at HealthGrades. “That said, our study findings show the care you receive once admitted to the hospital can also make the difference between life and death. We encourage all patients to educate themselves about the quality of emergency medical providers in their area and to choose a top performing hospital whenever there is a choice.”

Jim Sexton, president and CEO of Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, said his ER is one to be proud of.

"Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital is honored to receive such accolades for our emergency care services," Sexton said in a written statement. "We are committed to working as a team to meet the needs of our patients with quick access and processes in place to ensure quality care."

The other Michigan hospitals that were awarded are:

The report also found:

• From 2008 to 2010, emergency room admissions for heart attack were down 1.7 percent and stroke admissions were up 2.2 percent among Medicare recipients.
• For the group of patients studied, Emergency Medicine Excellence Award hospitals had, on average, 41.52 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality than all other hospitals across the 12 diagnoses studied.
• If all hospitals performed at the level of the Emergency Medicine Excellence Award hospitals from 2008 through 2010, an additional 170,856 people could have potentially survived their emergency hospitalization.
• More than 61 percent of hospital admissions among senior citizens begin in the emergency department, higher than any other age group.
• The top 10 cities with the lowest risk-adjusted mortality for patients admitted through the emergency department are Milwaukee, WI; Phoenix - Prescott, AZ; Cincinnati, OH; West Palm Beach, FL; Baltimore, MD; Traverse City, MI; Dayton, OH; Cleveland, OH; Fargo, ND; and Detroit, MI.