St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus Named One of Nation’s Top Hospitals for Fourth Year

February 25, 2019 - St. Luke’s Hospital-Bethlehem Campus has been named one of the nation’s top 250 hospitals for 2019 by Healthgrades, a leading online resource for information about physicians and hospitals.

Recipients of Healthgrades’ 2019 America’s 250 Best Hospitals Awards represent the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation and “demonstrate superior clinical outcomes across the majority of common inpatient conditions and procedures,” Healthgrades said. This marks the fourth year in a row that the Bethlehem Campus has been a recipient of this honor.

“We are proud of receiving this significant accomplishment once again. It is a testament to the high quality care we provide to all patients on a daily basis, year after year,” Donna Sabol, St. Luke’s Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, said.

St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus also was named among America’s 100 Best Hospitals (top 5 percent) for stroke care, pulmonary care, general surgery, critical care and gastrointestinal care. St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus has received these honors for multiple years in a row.

In addition, St. Luke’s Hospital Anderson Campus was named one of Healthgrades’ America’s 100 Best Hospitals for pulmonary care and for critical care. This was the second year in a row the Anderson Campus received these distinctions. 

The rankings are based on standard surveys given to randomly selected patients after they leave the hospital.  The multiple-question surveys are developed by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). Healthgrades obtains this survey data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  In 2018, St. Luke’s was named a Top Hospital in the Teaching Hospital category by the Leapfrog Group.  It has repeatedly earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) – six times total and four years in a row including 2018.  It has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.