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July 2 2021 –  Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association [BCBSA] selects Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center as a Blue Distinction Center+ for Knee and Hip Replacement, part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated healthcare facilities that show a commitment to delivering high-quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations. 
 
“Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is proud to be recognized by BCBSA for meeting the robust selection criteria for knee and hip replacements set by the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program”, said Teresa Urquhart, chief executive officer for Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.  “This designation is a testament to the hard work and dedication our orthopedic medical staff provides to each patient who is treated at our hospital.  We could not be more grateful for this accomplishment.”
 
Facilities designated as Blue Distinction Centers® for Knee and Hip Replacement demonstrate expertise in total knee and total hip replacement surgeries, resulting in fewer patient complications and hospital readmissions. Designated facilities include hospitals (with and without an onsite Intensive Care Unit) and Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC). 
 
All designated facilities must maintain national accreditation, and ASCs are also required to have an advanced orthopedic certification. In addition to meeting these quality thresholds, hospitals designated as Blue Distinction Centers+ are on average 20 percent more cost-efficient in an episode of care compared to other facilities.  Quality is key: only those facilities that first meet nationally established, objective quality measures will be considered for designation as a Blue Distinction Center+. 
 
For more information about our orthopedics program and services, go to www.pbgmc.com/services/orthopedics or call 561-622-1411.
 
 
 
 
About Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center: 
Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center is a 199-bed acute care hospital serving the medical and healthcare needs of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast for over 50 years. The hospital was the first in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast to perform open-heart surgery and has since remained one of the area’s leading heart hospitals, having performed nearly 19,000 open-heart surgeries and more than 100,000 cardiac catheterizations to date. 
 
Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center offers comprehensive cardiac care and advanced minimally-invasive procedures including Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), MitraClip, and Watchman. The hospital is the first in Palm Beach, Broward and Martin County to adopt the minimally invasive convergent approach to treat patients with atrial fibrillation.  The hospital’s outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program is designed for people recovering from a heart attack, coronary bypass or valve surgery, and angioplasty or stent procedures. 
Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center offers advanced orthopedic care to our community. Some of the services offered include: total joint replacements for hip, knee and shoulder, sports medicine, arthroscopy, podiatry, fracture management and inpatient/outpatient rehabilitation. In 2019, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center was the only hospital in the State of Florida to utilize the NAVIO robotic-assisted surgical system to perform total and partial knee replacements. 
Additional services include an Advanced Certified Primary Stroke Center, diagnostic imaging, general and robotic surgery, an Epilepsy Program and 24-hour emergency care. Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center’s Emergency Department offers all private rooms and is equipped with technology to help increase patient comfort, reduce wait times and provide up-to-the-minute patient status, as well as immediate access to film-based radiological images, interpretations and related data. The hospital’s Epilepsy Program is the first of its kind in Palm Beach County to have a dedicated Epilepsy Monitoring Unit that is equipped with long-term video monitoring, a specialized form of an EEG for patients who suffer from seizures. The hospital acquired the da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System which can be used across a spectrum of minimally-invasive procedures such as cardiovascular, colorectal, general surgery, gynecology, urology and more. 
The hospital was the recipient of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus from 2015 – 2020 and also was named a High Performance Hospital for Heart Failure in U.S. News and World Report’s 2020-2021 Best Hospitals. Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center was also named as the best heart center in Palm County from the Palm Beach Post 2020 Best of Palm Beach County Awards. For more information or for a complimentary physician referral, please call (833)-619-8831 or visit www.pbgmc.com.