Even in a state as small as Mississippi, it’s lonely at thetop.

That’s where King’s Daughters Medical Center is, standing aloneabove 58 other hospitals statewide in the latest batch of medicalrankings released by national health care quality reviewer DeltaGroup. The 2010 edition of the South Carolina-based firm’s CareChexranking system has found the Brookhaven hospital ranked No. 1 inMississippi in the most critical category – overall hospital care -and two other important groups as well.

“It validates the fact we have an excellent group of physicians andan excellent staff of employees in all of our hospital areas whoare committed to doing the very best they can for our patients,”said KDMC Chief Regulatory Officer Cathy Bridge.

According to CareChex, which compiles a variety of hospitalstatistics and analyses to ascertain a score, KDMC is Mississippi’sleader in overall hospital care, surgical care and medical care.The hospital ranks first of 59 facilities surveyed, and in theall-important overall hospital care category, it leads a pack ofnotable institutions like Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, St.Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital and Tupelo’s North MississippiMedical Center. Of 3,635 hospitals graded nationally, KDMC’soverall hospital care quality ranking is 436, putting it in the top11 percent in the country.

Bridge said CareChex uses six categories of data to arrive at itsrankings, compiling data regarding mortality rates, number ofcomplications, quality of inpatient services, patient safety,patient satisfaction and nationally-recognized core measuresrelating to certain types of treatment.

On the CareChex survey, KDMC’s composite score on all sixcategories was 96.6, Bridge said.

“We ended up being on top, and we’re very proud of that,” shesaid.

Rick Henderson, a principal with the Delta Group, said KDMC’s bestscores came in the areas of patient satisfaction and safety,meaning the hospital is successful in protecting its patients fromvarious forms of iatrogenses – complications resulting from medicaltreatment – like bed sores, post-operative hemorrhages orpneumothorax, collapsed lung.

“That really drove their overall rating,” he said. “In the patientsafety area, there were a couple of areas where they looked reallygood. The hospital also scored well in doctor communication. Peoplefeel very good about the way doctors communicate with them.”

Henderson said the CareChex program uses data collected over athree-year span during federal fiscal years 2006-2008. The systemallows health care consumers to see beyond a hospital’s size andpeer into real quality, he said.

“Sometimes I think there’s a conception by people that the biggeryou are, the better you are, but what this shows is even a smallerhospital can have a very good quality of care,” he said.

KDMC Chief Executive Officer Alvin Hoover said the administrationwould use the CareChex data to build the strength of already-strongprograms and improve the quality of lower-scoring services.

“We’re not perfect, but we want to be, and we’re going to strive tobe,” he said.

Hoover will also have the hospital’s newest honors highlightedaround town to continue driving home his oft-preached point thatLincoln County citizens don’t have to leave home for quality healthcare.

“This just tells us we do a very good job with all our programs,”he said. “To be ranked No. 1 in the whole State of Mississippi,you’re up against some pretty good competition. The No. 2 hospitalwas Baptist. When you can go head-to-head with those hospitals andyour quality is best, that’s pretty amazing.”