About Sarasota Memorial

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, an 806-bed regional medical center, is the among the largest acute care public health systems in Florida. With more than 4,000 staff and 1,000 volunteers, it is one of Sarasota County's largest employers. A community hospital founded in 1925, Sarasota Memorial is governed by the nine-member elected Sarasota County Public Hospital Board. It is a full-service health system, with specialized expertise in heart, vascular, cancer, and neuroscience services, as well as a network of outpatient centers, long-term care and rehabilitation among its many programs. Sarasota Memorial is the only provider of obstetrical services and Level III neonatal intensive care in Sarasota County.

Among its many achievements, Sarasota Memorial...

• … outperformed most U.S. hospitals in caring for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients in a nationwide government study. SMH had the lowest (best) heart attack and heart failure readmission rates of any Florida hospital included in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report, and on a national level, ranked No. 2 out of more than 4,000 hospitals for the lowest heart attack readmission rates, eighth for heart failure readmissions and in the top 100 hospitals for lowest number of pneumonia readmissions. The July, 2010 U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” publication singled out SMH in an article listing the top institutions with the lowest heart failure readmission rates.

• … ranks among the top 5% of hospitals in America based on its unusually low mortality and complication rates, according to a recent study reported on Forbes.com.

• … was the highest-rated hospital in the Tampa Bay area and among the top hospitals in the nation according to a Consumers' Checkbook survey reported in AARP The Magazine. Just 125 hospitals made the list. Consumers' Checkbook, a nonprofit research organization, surveyed doctors for hospital recommendations and rated nearly all acute-care hospitals in the United States based on death rates, complication rates, patient recommendations and other measures. The hospital's scores in each of the listed survey categories surpassed national averages.

• has earned Magnet Nursing Services Recognition, the nation’s highest honor for excellence in nursing. Given by the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center, the premier authority on nursing, Magnet recognition means that Sarasota Memorial provides a supportive environment that attracts and retains the best and brightest caregivers. To be recognized as a Magnet hospital, applicants must meet criteria indicating superiority in all aspects of nursing services. Sarasota Memorial was re-designated in December, 2008, after a rigorous application process that included detailed documentation and an on-site visit by Magnet surveyors, who looked at all facets of care, including patient outcomes, nurses’ participation in decision-making, education/career development and management philosophy and practices. Independently sponsored research projects suggest that Magnet facilities have positive outcomes for patients, nurses and workplaces. The hospital is currently the only provider in the region with the designation.

• … was recognized in 2010 as a top-ranked Community Value Provider by Cleverley + Associates, a leading health care consulting firm. The annual study measures the value that a hospital provides to its community by examining four key performance areas:

• Financial viability and plant reinvestment
• Hospital cost structure
• Hospital charge structure
• Hospital quality performance

• … was selected by nurses across Florida as one of the top hospitals in the state, earning the hospital a spot on ADVANCE for Nurses magazine’s Reader's Choice Honor Roll two years in a row.

• … was listed among Nursing Professionals magazine’s “Top 100 Hospitals to Work For” in 2009.

• … was named a Consumer Choice Award winner for the Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice metropolitan area by the National Research Corporation (NRC) for the 12th consecutive year for 2009-2010. The award identifies hospitals that health care consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image ratings in more than 300 markets throughout the nation.

• … is the only hospital in Southwest Florida with a nationally recognized, state-certified Comprehensive Stroke Center. The designation is awarded sparingly to hospitals with advanced technology, treatments and specialists that offer patients the best protection from death and disability when standard stroke treatments are not enough.

• … instituted a number of hospital-wide improvements so emergency patients see a physician or physician assistant within 30 minutes after registering.

• … received full three-year accreditation for its Cancer Care Services from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer. Only one in four hospitals that treat cancer receive this special approval.

• … is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehab Facilities (CARF) for its Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Specialty Stroke programs. CARF accreditation is voluntary and is awarded only to those rehabilitation programs able to meet the commission’s standards of excellence of patient care. Organizations must be re-accredited every three years.

• … has a Mobile Intensive Care Unit, a specially equipped ambulance designed to respond on-demand to critically ill adult patients who live in outlying communities.

• … ensures residents receive consistent, top-notch primary care with its physician partnership, First Physicians Group of Sarasota.

• … has a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with neonatologists, perinatologists, a maternal-fetal transport team and highly skilled clinicians. The hospital’s perinatal center offers mothers and newborns the most advanced clinical care in a four-county area and specializes in helping women with high risk pregnancies maintain the safest possible condition to deliver a healthy baby. Its Maternal/Neonatal Transport vehicle safely carries at-risk expectant mothers to the hospital. It is fully equipped and staffed to handle any emergency, stabilizing the mother and baby.

• … depends on its hundreds of volunteers, who donated more than a hundred thousand hours of devoted service to the organization. The hospital’s Auxiliary has selflessly contributed millions of dollars through the years to hospital programs.