Scripps Earns Top Spots on Cal Hospital Compare Honor Rolls

CHC named all four of Scripps Health’s hospitals to the superior tier of its California Opioid Care Honor Roll, making Scripps the only health care organization in San Diego County to be ranked in the list’s top category. This marks the second straight year that Scripps’ hospitals — Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego and Chula Vista campuses) — have been the only local facilities ranked in the honor roll’s superior tier.

CHC’s Opioid Care Honor Roll recognizes 76 California hospitals for their progress on implementing evidence-based practices to address the opioid crisis. CHC invited all adult acute-care hospitals in California to participate in the Opioid Care Honor Roll program by submitting a self-assessment covering eight questions across four domains of care. The domains included safe and effective opioid use; identifying and treating patients with opioid use disorder; overdose prevention; and applying opioid management best practices that influence the success of the first three domains.

CHC recognized Scripps for taking a variety of approaches to address overuse of opioids among its patients in 2021, compared to 2020. Scripps has increased its use of non-opioid pain management medications, while also achieving a 12% reduction in opioid prescriptions that exceed seven days. Additionally, Scripps provides a range of non-pharmaceutical pain management therapies, such as aromatherapy, music and pet therapy, ice and heat treatment and spiritual care. The health system has also expanded its medication-assisted therapy program to all its hospital emergency departments, where physicians can administer medications as a bridge for patients with opioid use disorder until they can receive further care.

Three Scripps hospital campuses were named to CHC’s California Maternity Honor Roll, more than any other local health care provider: Scripps Encinitas, Scripps Mercy San Diego and Scripps Mercy Chula Vista.

CHC’s Maternity Honor Roll recognizes 108 California hospitals that met the 23.6% statewide target for births via cesarean sections in first-time mothers with low-risk pregnancies. Since CHC’s Maternity Honor Roll was first published in 2016, Scripps Mercy San Diego has been recognized for six straight years. Scripps Encinitas has made the list each of the past five years and Scripps Mercy Chula Vista has been included for the past four.

According to CHC, overuse of C-sections can result in higher rates of complications for both mothers and newborns. CHC reports that California hospitals have made progress in lowering C-section rates in recent years, avoiding an estimated 34,888 C-sections from 2014 to 2021.

The CHC California Patient Safety Honor Roll includes three Scripps hospitals: Scripps Encinitas, Scripps La Jolla and Scripps Green.

Statewide, the Patient Safety Honor Roll recognizes 86 adult, acute-care hospitals with high safety profiles. Hospitals were evaluated using objective, publicly available safety measures across various domains, including hospital-acquired infections, adverse patient safety events, sepsis management, patient experience and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

The Patient Safety Honor Roll includes hospitals that underwent a rigorous 18-month evaluation process and were found to have consistently demonstrated a strong culture of safety across multiple departments, according to CHC.

Learn more about Scripps Health, a nonprofit integrated health system in San Diego, Calif.