It is the only hospital in the state of Georgia to earn the distinction.

Fayette Community Hospital is a subsidiary of Piedmont Medical Center and

continues its long legacy of medical excellence.

The award recognizes hospitals that have achieved excellence in quality

of care, operational efficiency, financial performance, and adaptation to

the environment. Solucient, through its Center for Healthcare Improvement,

performs an annual statistical analysis of publicly available data for more

than 6,000 acute care general hospitals and determines national performance

benchmarks. Balanced organizational performance reflects a hospital's

ability to provide sustainable and reliable healthcare services to its patients

and community.

"This distinction recognizes the extraordinary work done by Fayette

employees, volunteers, medical staff, management team and Board every day

and is a true tribute to their commitment," said Darrell Cutts, president

and chief executive officer of Fayette Community Hospital.

Fayette Community Hospital, a 100-bed acute care community hospital, opened

six years ago and offers 24-hour emergency services, medical and surgical

services, as well as diagnostic and rehabilitation services. With over 800

employees and a medical staff of more than 350 physicians, FCH is a private,

not-for-profit organization and a subsidiary of Piedmont Medical Center,

which includes Piedmont Hospital, a 500-bed acute tertiary care facility

in the north Atlanta community of Buckhead; Piedmont Clinic, a 436-member

physician network; and the Piedmont Physicians Group, a 54-member primary

care physician group with 15 offices throughout metro Atlanta.

R. Timothy Stack, President and CEO of Piedmont Medical Center said, "We

take great pride in Fayette's recognition and congratulate Darrell Cutts

and his extraordinary team of dedicated employees and physicians."

Solucient Research Highlights

The nation's top performing hospitals are more likely to address the

needs of the terminally ill through hospice services than other acute care

U.S. hospitals. In fact, if all acute care hospitals performed at the same

level as the nation's top hospitals, 95,000 more Medicare patients could

survive and an additional 77,000 patient stays could be complication free

each year - at an estimated annual savings of $8.8 billion.

"The management teams at the 100 Top Hospitals have led their facilities

to the highest performance levels in the nation by adopting new approaches

that facilitate optimum care for patients, based on their real needs," said

Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president of Solucient's Center for Healthcare

Improvement and the 100 Top Hospitals program. "The greater use of hospice

services at these organizations is a reflection of this commitment."

The 11th edition of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks

for Success study analyzed acute care hospitals nationwide using detailed

empirical performance data from 2002, including publicly available MedPAR

data and Medicare cost reports. Facilities recognized on the list are represented

across five hospital classes:

- Major Teaching - 15 winners

- Teaching - 25 winners

- Large Community, 250+ Beds - 21 winners (due to tie)

- Medium Community, 100 to 249 Beds - 20 winners

- Small Community, 25 to 99 Beds - 20 winners

The study scored facilities according to key measures: risk-adjusted mortality

and risk adjusted complications, average length of stay, expenses, profitability,

growth in percent of community served, cash flow to total debt ratio, tangible

assets per adjusted discharge, and coding specificity.

More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available

at www.100tophospitals.com