Northeast Georgia Medical Center has been placed in the top 5 percent of hospitals based on patient death and complication rates.

Health Grades, a national health care ratings organization, compiled the rankings based on performance in 26 medical procedures and diagnoses, and took into account 40 million Medicare patient discharges from 2007 and 2009.

“Needless to say, we’re pleased and excited,” said Carol Burrell, the hospital’s interim CEO.

According to the Health Grades study, more than 83 percent of consumers are very or somewhat concerned about the quality of hospital care in their community.

Burrell said fostering public trust is of high priority to the hospital staff.

“I think that our patients, the consumers are becoming much more educated with all the talk about health care reform and just the media and the Internet,” she said. “They have much more access and are much more educated than they have been before and I think that will continue into the future.”

Health Grades also grouped the top 5 percent rankings into a list of the top 50 cities for medical care, with Atlanta ranked as No. 27.

Out of the Atlanta area’s 20 main hospitals, only five, including Northeast Georgia Medical Center, were among the nation’s top 5 percent.

Burrell said being included among the hospitals is a sign that North Georgians don’t need to travel to Atlanta for quality health care.

“We see ourselves as a destination for health care here close to home,” she said. “And while we would like to have seen Gainesville separated out, it’s OK to be housed under Atlanta. It just means that what we’re providing here is higher quality than what many of the Atlanta hospitals are providing.”