Top 10 U.S. Health Systems According to Thomson Reuters Research

Third annual study sifts out the quality contenders

Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - 15:30

(Thomson Reuters: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Thomson Reuters has released its third annual study identifying the 10 top U.S. health systems based on quality of care, efficiency, and patient satisfaction.

The top 10 are:
• Advocate Health Care*—Oak Brook, Illinois
• Cape Cod Healthcare—Hyannis, Massachusetts
• CareGroup Healthcare System—Boston, Massachusetts
• Kettering Health Network*—Dayton, Ohio
• Maury Regional Healthcare System—Columbia, Tennessee
• Mayo Foundation**—Rochester, Minnesota
• NorthShore University HealthSystem—Evanston, IL
• OhioHealth*—Columbus, Ohio
• Partners Healthcare—Boston, Massachusetts
• Spectrum Health**—Grand Rapids, Michigan

*Denotes three-time winner
**Denotes two-time winner

Compared with their peers, these health systems saved more lives, caused fewer medical complications, made fewer medical errors, followed recommended standards of care more closely, released patients half a day sooner on average, and scored better on patient satisfaction surveys.

“This year, the 10 top health systems set a new standard for high quality of care across all of the communities they serve,” says Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters.

“To produce consistent, strong performance across multiple hospitals, health system leaders must be providing crystal clear goals and communication as well as the means for staff to execute effectively,” Chenoweth adds. “These systems are positioned to continue performing well as we move further into the era of health care reform.”

The 10 best health systems rose to the top when researchers from the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program analyzed the performance of 285 health systems based on eight metrics:
• In-hospital mortality
• Medical complications
• Patient safety
• Average length of stay
• Thirty-day mortality rate (post-discharge)
• Thirty-day readmission rate (post discharge)
• Adherence to clinical standards of care (e.g., evidence-based core measures published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
• Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient survey score (part of a national initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals)

The study evaluated U.S. health systems with two or more short-term, acute care, nonfederal hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of patients. Researchers used public data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) dataset and the CMS Hospital Compare datasets.

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program has analyzed and reported on the performance of hospitals since 1993. For more information, visit www.100tophospitals.com.

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