Southeast Missouri Hospital Ranks Among Top 10 in Missouri for Gastroenterology (GI) Surgical Services; Receives National Recognition Too

Southeast Missouri Hospital physicians, nurses and staff gathered Tuesday, January 12, to celebrate the Hospital's status as one of the state's Top 10 providers of Gastroenterology (GI) surgical services.

Southeast Missouri Hospital is the only hospital in the southeast Missouri region to be ranked in the Top 10 in the state by HealthGrades®, the nation's leading independent healthcare ratings organization.

The Hospital also has earned national recognition from the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). Southeast is one of only six GI providers in Missouri and 134 nationally to receive this award. Southeast is the only hospital in the southeast Missouri and southern Illinois region to earn ASGE recognition.

HealthGrades formally recognized the Hospital's "Top 10" status at a ceremony in the Hospital Lobby. "I think it speaks to the ongoing quality of the organization we have," Hospital President and CEO Debbie Linnes told physicians, nurses, staff and board members gathered for the occasion.

Linnes thanked Hospital employees for their contributions in providing award-winning GI service. Board of Trustees Chairman Al Spradling III said the recognition reflects the fact that the Hospital is "the leading provider of GI care in the region."

The HealthGrades recognition is based on outcomes data compiled as part of The Twelfth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, released in October 2009. In the study, HealthGrades found that Southeast's mortality and complication rates for GI patients are significantly lower than the national average. This finding has earned Southeast a "Five-Star" rating for GI procedures and surgeries from HealthGrades for the 2010 rating period. Southeast also was Five-Star rated for GI services in 2008.

Mary Sweet, provider services consultant with HealthGrades, said the results are a "testament to the physicians, nurses and staff" at Southeast.

W. Ray Silliman, MD, a general surgeon and President-Elect of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Medical Staff, said, "I can't be more proud of our program."

Matthew Gaeta, MD, Medical Director of Endoscopy Services at Southeast, thanked his fellow physicians, nurses and others on the Hospital staff who are involved in providing excellent GI services.

"We are doing a great job and we continue to hope to do even better," Dr. Gaeta said.

E. Lee Taylor, MD, JD, Southeast's Vice President/Chief Medical Officer, said the end result for GI patients is fewer complications and better outcomes for patients. For every 100 GI patients, six more survive at Southeast than at a three-star rated hospital, he said. "Those six people could be your father, your mother, your brother or your sister," he told the audience.