Both Good Samaritan Regional Health Center and Saint Mary’s Hospital have been named 2013 Guardian of Excellence Award winners by Press Ganey Associates, Incorporated.  The Award recognizes top-performing facilities that consistently achieved the 95^th percentile or better for performance.  Saint Mary’s Hospital is recognized for patient satisfaction in inpatient care while Good Samaritan Regional Health Center is recognized for physician engagement.  The Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award is a health care industry symbol of achievement.  According to Mike Warren, President of Good Samaritan Regional Health Center, this award represents an important recognition from Press Ganey, the industry’s leader in measuring, understanding and improving the patient experience.  According to Barb Paine, Director of Service Excellence for Saint Mary’s Good Samaritan, Incorporated, Press Ganey tools are utilized to drill down and identify survey questions which are most highly correlated to an exceptional patient experience; they are then incorporated into the annual goals in every department.