A NATIONAL HEALTH care ratings group recently gave high marks to Northside hospitals and has ranked them among the top medical service providers in the state.

In its 2008 Hospital Quality in America report, HealthGrades ranked St. Dominic Hospital number one in the state for cardiac services and treatment for strokes.

River Oaks Health Systems and Baptist Health Systems also scored high on the annual study.

Cassandra Mondrow, director of marketing for HealthGrades in Golden, Col., said the group rates every hospital in the United States and provides the ratings free of charge to residents.

“It’s another tool that consumers can use to make the best medical choice for themselves,” she said. “Consumers in Jackson are fortunate to have so many excellent hospitals in the area.”

High ratings aren’t new for St. Dominic’s. It has remained among the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide since 2004. Hospital spokesman Keith Buchanan said the results should be reassuring to residents. “It shows that people don’t have to travel out of state to get quality health care,” he said. “They can get that quality care right here.”

Hospitals are rated by a team of internal statisticians and physicians. Rankings range from one to five stars and are based, in part, on the medical providers’ mortality rate after surgery and on complications rates during and following medical procedures.

Statisticians, this year, studied more than 40 million Medicare records to come up with the results, Mondrow said.

According to the HealthGrades officials, one star is poor, three stars are “as expected,” and five stars mean an excellent rating. A full list of hospital scores can be found at www.healthgrades.com.

Among ratings on the Web site, HealthGrades reported that St. Dominic’s scored highest among the metro area’s six largest hospitals in successfully treating patients with abnormal heart rhythms, bowel obstruction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and angioplasty.

BAPTIST SCORED at the top in carotid removal survival rates, back and neck surgery, and gallbladder removal. Both Baptist and St. Dominic’s have scored best among metro hospitals in survival rates in the first six months after cardio bypass surgery.

Baptist officials say they’re pleased with the results of the HealthGrades study. “We are very proud of the recent HealthGrades results. It shows we are a leader in healthcare,” he said. “Our physicians, nurses and employees support Baptist’s mission of continuously improving quality medical care.”

River Oaks also stood out among hospitals in spinal fusion and in back and neck surgery. It and Baptist led area hospitals in treating patients with diabetic acidosis and coma.

It repeated its results from last year, when the study found that the hospital had one of the top spinal programs in the nation. Emily Myers, the director of marketing at the hospital, last year, the hospital’s spine program was ranked in the top five percent in the nation.

Buchanan said St. Dominic’s is also pleased with the results.

He explained why the hospital’s scores were high in most areas.

“We implemented some focused initiatives to improve outcomes for cardiovascular surgery, heart attack and heart failure patients and have been striving to reach this HealthGrades goal.”

One of those initiatives, he said, resulted in a reduction in the amount of time it takes for doctors there to get a heart attack patient from the emergency room to the lab to receive stents.

He said the hospital has been advised recently by a HealthGrades official to make improvements. St. Dominic’s uses the information to improve their services. Now, officials there are taking steps improve ratings in the back and neck surgery field, a category in which the hospital scored below its nearest competitors, River Oaks and Baptist.

Other hospitals included in the study were River Region Health Systems, Parkview Regional Medical Center, both in Vicksburg, and University Medical Center, Central Mississippi Medical Center, both in Jackson, and Rankin Medical Center in Brandon.