Top 100 Hospitals Named by Thomson Reuters

Due to an editing error, the original version of this article contained outdated information about health system rankings. Health system rankings for 2011 may be viewed here.

Thomson Reuters on Monday released its annual study identifying the 100 top U.S. hospitals based on their overall organizational performance.

"This year’s 100 Top Hospitals award winners have delivered exemplary results, despite volatility from healthcare reform," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Thomson Reuters. "The leadership teams at these organizations have dealt with enormous ambiguity, yet remained focused on mission and excellence across the hospital which drove national benchmarks to new highs."

The study evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality; medical complications; patient safety; average patient stay; expenses; profitability; patient satisfaction; adherence to clinical standards of care; post-discharge mortality; and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, and pneumonia. The study has been conducted annually since 1993.

For the third year, Thomson Reuters is also recognizing the Everest Award winners — hospitals among the 100 winners that delivered the greatest rate of improvement over five years. This year, there are six Everest Award winners.

Thomson Reuters’ researchers evaluated 2,914 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals. They used public information — Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not apply, and winners do not pay to market this honor.

Thomson Reuters has estimated that if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:

• Nearly 116,000 additional patients would survive each year.
• More than 197,000 patient complications would be avoided annually.
• Expense per adjusted discharge would drop by $462.
• The average patient stay would decrease by half a day.

Below are the top hospitals among major teaching hospitals. Asterisks indicate Everest Award winners:

Major Teaching Hospitals

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center - Chicago, IL

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital - Park Ridge, IL

Baystate Medical Center - Springfield, MA

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Boston, MA

Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center - Boston, MA

Geisinger Medical Center - Danville, PA

Massachusetts General Hospital - Boston, MA

Mayo Clinic - Rochester Methodist Hospital - Rochester, MN

NorthShore University HealthSystem - Evanston, IL

*Northwestern Memorial Hospital - Chicago, IL

*Oschner Medical Center - New Orleans, LA

University Hospitals Case Medical Center - Cleveland, OH

The full report, including top cardiovascular hospitals and community hospitals, may be viewed here.