Sarasota Memorial Hospital ranked among nation’s top 10 joint replacement hospitals

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Studies show hospitals with higher volumes of procedures have better patient outcomes

Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s highest volume orthopedic surgeon, Edward Stolarski, MD, conducts a procedure. Stolarski, who also serves as the hospital’s orthopedics section chief, was ranked among the nation’s top three highest-volume physicians for hip and knee replacements in fiscal 2016, according to a 2018 analysis of Medicare claims reported earlier this year. Photo courtesy Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) has been ranked among the nation’s top 10 highest-volume hospitals for hip and knee replacements, based on an independent analysis of 2017 Medicare claims reported by Orthopedic Network News, the hospital has announced.

Sarasota Memorial was the only hospital in the Southeastern United States to make the Top 10 Joint Replacement Hospitals list, released in late July by the national trade publication, an SMH news release notes.

In the July report, SMH also was spotlighted for specialized “revision” hip and knee procedures. “Revision procedures are an important quality metric because they are generally considered more challenging procedures than initial surgeries,” the release adds. A high number “generally means that a hospital has become a referral center” for revisions that cannot be treated elsewhere, the release points out.

This is not the first time Sarasota Memorial has been recognized among the nation’s highest performers for hip and knee surgery, the release notes. In 2017, SMH was named a Center of Excellence for hip and knee replacement by DNV-GL Healthcare USA Inc., one of the nation’s leading hospital accrediting organizations, the release says. It also ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s and Modern Healthcare’s “High Performing” hospitals for hip and knee replacement.

According to the latest update on the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare website (July 2018), Sarasota Memorial was listed among the top five hospitals in Florida and among the top 50 in the nation for demonstrating the lowest (best) readmission rates for patients undergoing hip/knee replacement surgery, the release continues. Hospital Compare’s analysis included 166 hospitals in Florida and 3,453 hospitals nationwide, the release points out.

“Experience really counts when it comes to specialty care,” Sarasota Memorial’s Chief Medical Officer James Fiorica said in the release. “There’s a clear correlation between high-volume providers and better patient outcomes,” he added in the release.