El Camino Hospital Receives Excellence Award for Women`s Health

Ranked in Top 5% Nationwide in HealthGrades Study
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
El Camino Hospital has received the 2009/2010 HealthGrades Specialty Excellence
Award for Women's Health, the only hospital in Northern California to receive
this recognition for women's health quality outcomes four years in a row.

The Sixth Annual HealthGrades Women`s Health in American Hospitals study
released today employed a new methodology, expanding the number and type of
in-hospital procedures/diagnoses for women's health that were analyzed for
patient outcomes to a total of 16 in three areas: women`s medicine (heart
attack, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease, and stroke); women`s cardiovascular procedures (coronary bypass
surgery, peripheral vascular bypass, coronary interventional procedures,
resection/replacement of abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid surgery, and valve
replacement); and women`s bone & joint health (total knee and total hip
replacement surgeries, spinal surgeries, and hip fracture repair).

"El Camino Hospital takes particular pride in this recognition," said Michele
van Zuiden, executive director of the Women's Hospital at El Camino Hospital.
"Both the hospital and its service lines are designed and staffed to meet the
unique needs and preferences of women, who represent 65% of patients who receive
care at El Camino Hospital. Our commitment has been to make this one of the
premier women`s hospitals, not just in California, but also the United States.
This award is recognition of our progress toward that goal."

The HealthGrades study documents the significant benefits of receiving the high
quality care found at the highest performing hospitals identified in the study;
far fewer avoidable deaths and complications. In fact, from 2005 through 2007,
HealthGrades estimated that 18,089 women`s lives could have potentially been
saved and 6,849 complications could have been avoided if all the hospitals
studied performed at the level of the top 5%. The vast majority of potentially
preventable deaths (82%) were associated with the treatment of just four
diagnoses: pneumonia, stroke, heart failure, and heart attack.

In the study, HealthGrades analyzed more than 2.6 million hospitalizations using
Medicare data from all 50 states from 2005 through 2007. To be included in the
analysis, hospitals had to have an open heart program and treat significant
numbers of women for stroke. Hospitals also had to have a significant patient
population in at least six additional cohorts from all areas (pulmonary,
cardiac, vascular, orthopedics and spine).

The study, along with HealthGrades` individual hospital ratings, can be viewed
for free at www.HealthGrades.com.

About El Camino Hospital

El Camino Hospital, ranked among the top five percent of hospitals nationwide
for clinical excellence by HealthGrades, is a 542-bed acute care, not-for-profit
and District-owned organization with campuses in Mountain View and Los Gatos,
California. Key medical specialty focuses include cancer care, heart & vascular,
neuroscience, genomic medicine, orthopedic & spine and a women`s hospital.

Long considered a leader in women's services, El Camino Hospital launched the
Women's Hospital late last year. With a free-standing, three-story maternal
child health pavilion as its centerpiece, the Women's Hospital at El Camino
Hospital encompasses not only prenatal, maternity and neonatal services, but
also a comprehensive range of clinical services focused on the health needs of
women throughout their lifetimes.

The preferred maternity hospital in the region by a factor of three to one over
other local facilities, it ranked first in California for the second year in a
row for the percentage of women who begin breastfeeding after birth (97%.) The
hospital recently joined the Spirit of Women Network, an integrated partnership
of hospitals and healthcare systems across the country that aim to drive health
action for women and their families through education, advocacy and sharing of
best practices.

El Camino Hospital recently received a gold medal from Bay Area Parent magazine
as the "Best Hospital or Medical Center."

for El Camino Hospital
Hatti Hamlin, 925-872-4328
or
Scott Shapiro, 720-963-6584
sshapiro@healthgrades.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009