Minden Medical ranks 14th of 4,400 in the nation
by Vickie Welborn - Shreveport Times (excerpt)

MINDEN — At a time when the nation's health care system is forefront in a debate, a local hospital has gained high marks from its customers — the patients — and at the same time earned a ranking unmatched in Louisiana.

The federal government's Web site, Hospital Compare, has placed Minden Medical Center in the top 1 percent in the country by listing it as 14th in the nation in an evaluation of its quality of care. No other hospitals in Louisiana are on the list; the closest is in Oklahoma.

"Our staff has achieved an impressive 90 to 100 percent compliance on 21 of 25 best care practice metrics. These are standards of care that have been established by the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services," Chief Executive Officer George French III said in a news release. "Another Web site that analyzes this data shows that we are performing in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the nation for the most recent reporting period (2007-2008)."