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Truven Top 100 Hospital Scores Measure 'Leadership Impact'

 |  By cclark@healthleadersmedia.com  
   February 27, 2013

Emphasizing that this year's Truven Health Analytics 100 Top Hospitals list "is not an advertising scheme," senior vice president Jean Chenoweth says the 2013 winners list reflects "a balance scorecard," that keeps "all the goals and mission of the whole organization in mind."

This year the top hospitals list, formerly published as the Thomson Reuters Top 100 Hospitals, gives equal weight to 9 elements of hospital performance:

  • Risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality
  • Risk-adjusted complications
  • Risk-adjusted patient safety
  • Core measures
  • Severity-adjusted average length of stay
  • Case-mix and wage-adjusted inpatient expense per discharge
  • Adjusted operating profit margin
  • Patient experience scores as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS)
  • The ninth element in the algorithm combines a hospital's performance in 30-day readmission rates and 30-day mortality rates for patients with heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. 

Chenoweth emphasized that the Truven list is different than other scorecards "because number one, it is not an advertising scheme," and details of how each hospital has been ranked are not made available to consumers.

Rather, it is designed to measure "the impact of hospital leaders, and what they emphasize within their organizations. It's not just a one-year snapshot but a more long-term picture. We're measuring the impact of leadership in driving improvement forward."

Chenoweth adds that all top 100 hospitals had to meet performance thresholds in each category. For example, no hospital could be listed if it had lost money, even if it excelled in several of the other categories.  "We don't want to have a wildly out-of-balance organization. They have to be in balance," she says.

Hospitals that win a mention within the list also don't have to pay Truven to publicize their honor, Chenoweth says.

In a news release, Truven said that 2,922 short-term, acute-care, non-federal hospitals were eligible for evaluation. Data used was culled from Medicare cost reports and the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) report, as well as core measures and patient experience reviews as reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and which is posted on Medicare's Hospital Compare website.  The data reflects five-year performance in most of the nine categories, and three years for others, including length of stay, complications and mortality.

Hospitals can not apply to be on the list.

Truven also said that if inpatients who are Medicare beneficiaries treated at all the other 2,822 hospitals received the same level of care as those treated in the top 100, more than 164,000 lives would be saved, 82,000 additional patients would not have incurred complications from their hospitalizations, $6 billion would have been saved, and the average length of stay would have been decreased by a half a day. 

"If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact would be even greater," the company said.

The 100 hospitals are separated into five categories:

Major Teaching Hospitals

Teaching Hospitals

Large Community Hospitals

Medium Community Hospitals

Small Community Hospitals

Major Teaching Hospitals
Advocate Christ Medical Center – Oak Lawn, IL
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
Christiana Care Health System – Newark, DE
Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, WI
NorthShore University HealthSystem – Evanston, IL
Northwestern Memorial Hospital – Chicago, IL
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center – Philadelphia, PA
Providence Hospital and Medical Center – Southfield, MI
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital – Ann Arbor, MI
The Methodist Hospital – Houston, TX
UC San Diego Medical Center – San Diego, CA
University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers – Ann Arbor, MI*

Teaching Hospitals
Allen Hospital – Waterloo, IA*
Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center – Sioux Falls, SD
Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System – Amarillo, TX
Beaumont Hospital, Troy – Troy, MI
Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy – Charlotte, NC
Grant Medical Center – Columbus, OH*
Immanuel Medical Center – Omaha, NE
Kettering Medical Center – Kettering, OH
Lankenau Medical Center – Wynnewood, PA
McKay-Dee Hospital Center – Ogden, UT*
Mercy Medical Center – Cedar Rapids, IA
Mission Hospital –  Asheville, NC
North Colorado Medical Center – Greeley, CO
Poudre Valley Hospital – Fort Collins, CO
Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital – Whittier, CA
Riverside Methodist Hospital – Columbus, OH*
Rose Medical Center – Denver, CO
Saint Thomas Hospital – Nashville, TN
Saint Vincent Hospital – Worcester, MA
Scripps Green Hospital – La Jolla, CA
St. Luke’s Hospital – Cedar Rapids, IA
St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital – Indianapolis, IN
Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento – Sacramento, CA
United Regional Health Care System – Wichita Falls, TX*
Virginia Hospital Center – Arlington, VA*

Large Community Hospitals
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital – Downers Grove, IL*
Banner Boswell Medical Center – Sun City, AZ
Billings Clinic Hospital – Billings, MT
Centinela Hospital Medical Center – Inglewood, CA
Central DuPage Hospital – Winfield, IL
Gaston Memorial Hospital – Gastonia, NC
Good Shepherd Medical Center – Longview, TX*
Kendall Regional Medical Center – Miami, FL
Lakeland Regional Medical Center – St. Joseph, MI
Martin Health System – Stuart, FL
Maury Regional Medical Center – Columbia, TN*
Mease Countryside Hospital – Safety Harbor, FL*
Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center – Houston, TX
Memorial Hospital West – Pembroke Pines, FL
Northeast Georgia Medical Center – Gainesville, GA
Ocala Regional Medical Center – Ocala, FL
Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center – Torrance, CA
St. David’s Medical Center – Austin, TX
St. David’s North Austin Medical Center – Austin, TX
TriStar Skyline Medical Center – Nashville, TN

Medium Community Hospitals
Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center – Sheboygan, WI
Baptist Medical Center East – Montgomery, AL
Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital – Charleston, SC
Chino Valley Medical Center – Chino, CA
Doctors Hospital of Sarasota – Sarasota, FL*
Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center – Garden Grove, CA
Gulf Coast Medical Center – Panama City, FL
Holland Hospital – Holland, MI
INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital – Fairfax, VA
Lakeview Hospital –Bountiful, UT*
Lawrence Memorial Hospital – Lawrence, KS
Licking Memorial Hospital – Newark, OH
Logan Regional Hospital – Logan, UT
McKee Medical Center – Loveland, CO
Mercy Hospital Anderson – Cincinnati, OH
Mercy Hospital Fairfield – Fairfield, OH
Montclair Hospital Medical Center – Montclair, CA
Ogden Regional Medical Center – Ogden, UT
Shasta Regional Medical Center – Redding, CA
West Anaheim Medical Center – Anaheim, CA

Small Community Hospitals
Alta View Hospital – Sandy, UT
Desert Valley Hospital – Victorville, CA
Dublin Methodist Hospital – Dublin, OH
Gulf Breeze Hospital – Gulf Breeze, FL
Hill Country Memorial Hospital – Fredericksburg, TX
Lovelace Westside Hospital – Albuquerque, NM
Major Hospital – Shelbyville, IN
MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital – Leonardtown, MD
Mercy Hospital Grayling – Grayling, MI*
Ministry Saint Clare’s Hospital – Weston, WI
Payson Regional Medical Center – Payson, AZ
Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville – Huntersville, NC
Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast – Miramar Beach, FL
San Dimas Community Hospital – San Dimas, CA
Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital & Clinics – Prairie du Sac, WI
Spectrum Health United Hospital – Greenville, MI
St. Elizabeth Community Hospital – Red Bluff, CA
Sutter Davis Hospital – Davis, CA
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Azle – Azle, TX
Woodwinds Health Campus – Woodbury, MN*

* Hospitals showing most improvement over five years.

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