Norwalk Hospital is a 328-bed, not-for-profit, acute care community teaching hospital that serves a population of 250,000 in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut. The Hospital has over 500 physicians on its active medical staff, many of whom trained at the nation's leading medical schools and hospitals, and 2,000 health professionals and support personnel.Norwalk Hospital is a national leader in health care quality and patient safety. The Hospital was awarded the HealthGrades® Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ in 2010, 2011 and 2012, the only hospital in Fairfield County so honored. HealthGrades®, the nation's leading, independent health care ratings organization, analyzed three years of Medicare data and determined that Norwalk Hospital ranked in the top five percent of all hospitals nationally for clinical excellence. This top tier of hospitals was found by HealthGrades® to have statistically significantly lower patient mortality and inhospital complications than other hospitals. The Hospital was among the first in the region to implement computerized physician order entry, and its critical care nurses have been awarded the national Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence three times. In addition, Norwalk Hospital ranks among the nation's leading hospitals in providing quality surgical and heart attack care, according to data from the Hospital Quality Alliance.