MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast was recently named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. Sacred Heart was also among 23 winning hospitals, and the only hospital in Florida, recognized for delivering the fastest rate of improvement over a five-year period. These hospitals are the inaugural recipients of the 100 Top Hospitals: Everest Award for National Benchmarks. 

“From the very beginning, it has been our passion to provide this community with the highest quality, patient-focused care,” said Roger Hall, president of Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast. “To be named as a Top 100 Hospital with only six years of operation is an incredible accomplishment by our physicians, staff, foundation, and the community.”

The Everest Award recognizes hospitals that have achieved excellence in clinical outcomes, patient safety, patient satisfaction, financial performance, and operational efficiency. This marks the first time the 100 Top Hospitals national benchmarks have been integrated with data reflecting long-term performance trends to identify the top-performing hospitals that are improving at the fastest rate.

“The boards, executives and physician leaders of the Everest award-winning hospitals developed long-term strategies and executed them with extraordinary skill to produce extraordinary results,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters. “The Everest award winners are leaders and innovators and they are bringing great value to their communities.”

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Thomson Reuters researchers evaluated 3,000 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals in nine areas: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, patient satisfaction, and adherence to clinical standards of care.

 Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast is a 58-bed hospital located just east of Destin in Miramar Beach. Since opening its doors to patient care in January 2003, the not-for-profit hospital has grown steadily and continues to fulfill its mission to improve the health of the community at large, with special attention to service of the poor. 

 The hospital offers a wide range of medical and surgical services, including 24-hour emergency care, an intensive care unit, a dedicated joint replacement program, cardiac diagnostics, cancer care, rehabilitation services, laboratory and radiology services, and comprehensive women’s services with the Family Birth Place and the Olson Women’s Diagnostic Center.

 The hospital is part of Sacred Heart Health System based in Pensacola. Surveys by National Research Corporation have found that for 13 consecutive years, consumers in Northwest Florida have rated Sacred Heart Health System as the healthcare provider with the best reputation and best overall quality.

For more information about the 100 Top Hospitals® study, visit www.100tophospitals.com. For more information about Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast, call (850) 278-3600 or visit www.sacredheartemerald.org.

###