The leaders listed include healthcare providers, advocates, administrators, researchers and professors who have demonstrated a commitment to patient safety through their body of work, personal accomplishments and organizational leadership.

1. For Immediate Release May 21, 2014
Contact: Damian Becker, Manager of Media Relations
(516) 377-5370
Becker’s Hospital Review Names Ruth Ragusa to
Its List of 50 Experts in Patient Safety
Oceanside, NY — Becker's Hospital Review has named Ruth Ragusa, RN, vice president of organizational
effectiveness at South Nassau Communities Hospital, to its 2014 List of "50 Experts Leading the Field of
Patient Safety" in the United States.
The list includes individuals at healthcare organizations, national organizations, universities and other
institutions who are devoted to improving patient safety and quality of care. The leaders listed include
healthcare providers, advocates, administrators, researchers and professors who have demonstrated a
commitment to patient safety through their body of work, personal accomplishments and organizational
leadership. Members of the list do not and cannot pay to be included on this list. Becker's Hospital Review is a
Chicago-based publication focusing on hospital and healthcare news and business advice. The primary audience
for the publication is hospital executives and healthcare industry leaders.
“Under Ruth’s leadership, South Nassau has been an industry leader in developing and implementing
protocol and procedures that have improved the performance of our staff and the delivery of our services,” said
Richard J. Murphy, President & CEO of South Nassau. “Her commitment to excellence and teamwork inspires
our organization to build on our standards and achieve greater levels of effectiveness and quality.”
As South Nassau’s vice president of organizational effectiveness, Ms. Ragusa’s responsibilities include
performance improvement, risk management, infection prevention, regulatory affairs, home care, pharmacy
services and other clinical support services. Additionally, she is responsible for providing administrative
support for the departments of Pediatrics, Anesthesia, Medicine and other services.
Ms. Ragusa also spearheads South Nassau’s participation in national and regional quality improvement
initiatives. In the past year, South Nassau has been named a Joint Commission Top Performer on Key Quality
Measures; received Joint Commission Advanced Certification for Primary Stroke Centers; received the
American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Quality
Achievement Award; and, for the eighth consecutive year, a spot on the prestigious HomeCare Elite™ listing
for South Nassau’s Home Care, as one of the top 500 home health care providers in the United States.
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2. Ms. Ragusa, who joined South Nassau in 2001 as vice president of performance improvement, has more
than two decades of experience in health care administration. Before coming to South Nassau, Ms. Ragusa
served as Director of Critical Care Nursing, Director of Nursing Quality, and Vice President of Performance
Management & Education at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn. She also served as Director of Professional
Services at Lutheran Medical Center’s Lutheran Augustana Center for Extended Care & Rehabilitation. Ms.
Ragusa earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing and master’s degree in healthcare administration from the Long
Island University/C.W. Post Center. She resides in Old Brookville, NY, with her husband and two children.
Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), South Nassau®
Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 435 beds, more than 900 physicians and
3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that
provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and
emergency services. In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides emergency
and elective angioplasty, and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife®
radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of
Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons and is an
accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program. In
addition, the hospital has been awarded the Joint Commission’s gold seal of approval as a Top Performer on
Key Quality Measures, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; and disease-specific
care for hip and joint replacement, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit
www.southnassau.org.
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