Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Recognized as One of the Top 125 Hospitals in the United States

LONG BEACH, Calif. – April 27, 2009 – Long Beach Memorial Medical Center (LBMMC) today announced it has been named one of the nation’s top 125 hospitals by Consumers’ CHECKBOOK, a study sponsored by AARP The Magazine. Long Beach Memorial is one of only four hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange Counties and one of only 14 California hospitals included in the report.

Initial findings from the study conclude that nearly 74 percent of doctors surveyed rated LBMMC as “very good” or “excellent,” compared to the national average of 35 percent. In addition, 72 percent of patients who received care at LBMMC reported that they would recommend this hospital, compared to the national average of 67 percent.

“At Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, our physicians, nurses, and each and every staff member are dedicated to providing patients with the highest level of care,” said Diana Hendel, CEO, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. “This recognition from both our patients and physicians truly reinforces our continued commitment to the well being of our patients and the communities we serve.”

Consumers' CHECKBOOK is a non-profit consumer research group based in Washington, D.C. The organization conducted a study which surveyed nearly 140,000 doctors on where they send a patient to receive the highest quality of care for difficult to treat or rare conditions. Other factors that were examined were: a comparison of death and "adverse outcome" rates for major types of cases, assessments of whether the hospitals fail to provide proper tests and procedures and ratings of hospitals on key patient safety measures.

CHECKBOOK’s researchers calculated an overall score for each hospital using weights the researchers assigned to each measure. The hospitals were ranked based on this overall score and the highest scoring hospitals in each community made the top 125 list—at least two hospitals in each community and three or four in larger communities. The list came out of analysis done for the latest edition of CHECKBOOK’s Consumers’ Guide to Hospitals, a book and website that rates over 4,500 acute-care hospitals in the U.S., located in the 53 largest metropolitan areas.

The complete version of the Consumers’ Guide to Hospitals will be available online in May and in hard copy at the beginning of June.