On Wednesday Feb. 7, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC) was named one of America’s top 100 Best Hospitals for 2024 by Healthgrades.
The new award comes as JHMC climbed the ranks from its previously held position of America’s 250 Best Hospitals from 2020-2024. Healthgrades, an online organization that rates hospitals based on performance rates and patient outcomes, also honored JHMC with America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention Award, the Cranial Neurosurgery Excellence Award and the Gastrointestinal Surgery Excellence Award.
The prestigious “100 best hospitals” ranking, marks JHMC as one of seven hospitals in New York to hold the top 100 title, and one of the top 2% of hospitals for overall clinical performance. Bruce Flanz, CEO of JHMC, explained how an emphasis on patient health and safety aided in receiving the award. “We are really very mission driven, and as I look around most people have been here at least 20 to 25 years and they are committed to taking care of the people in our community,” he said.
JHMC is uniquely positioned in the epicenter of Jamaica, Queens,-one of the most culturally and racially diverse boroughs in all of NYC- and treats patients of varying socioeconomic backgrounds.
Sabiha Raoof, chief medical officer for MediSys Health Network, explained how the hospital has learned to uniquely adapt to patients’ social and medical needs. “Not only do we have to provide the medical care that they need, we also have to think about all the other social needs that may affect their health. We have created a lot of programs, we have patient navigators who are from the community, they are bilingual, they can relate to the cultural and other needs of our patients and they help our patients navigate their health through the systems,” she said. “When our patients are discharged from the hospital they have a very strong care transitions team that follows up with patients.”
In his speech to an audience full of doctors, nurses and other medical staff, Garret Spry, Healthgrades senior director of quality services, detailed specific five star recognitions given to JHMC for specialized care, including diabetic emergencies, treatments of pulmonary embolisms, and gastrointestinal surgery. “ You have numerous five star recognitions that are the foundation of the different ratings and recommendations we look at… to have a five star rating just to give you a little bit of context, that roughly means you are among the top 15% of facilities in the nation,” he said.
After Spry’s speech, Flanz closed out the ceremony with a few parting words about the ongoing success of the hospital. “There are other organizations that have recognized us… we are the only comprehensive stroke center in Queens county and we are the only joint commission primary heart attack center in New York State.
To be recognized by Healthgrades is especially rewarding because they are an outcomes based rating agency,” he said. “ You save people’s lives,” Flanz said, as the crowd burst into applause.
