Health systems were honored for achieving better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction while keeping costs down, as rapid industry consolidation continues.
IBM Watson Health published its annual list Monday of the top 15 health systems in the country based on overall performance.
The organizations identified in the report achieved better risk-adjusted outcomes and higher patient satisfication while also keeping their average per-patient costs down, as the healthcare provider landscape adjusts to rapid merger and acquisition activity.
"The growing trend of hospital consolidation into larger, more complex health systems has yielded benefits, but it also has presented challenges to hospital administrators who must now integrate disparate data sets, acquire actionable insights and assure the health of larger communities," said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, vice president and chief health officer at IBM Watson Health, in a statement. "These winning health systems are demonstrating the power of aligning best practices, including utilizing data, across multiple hospitals to achieve greater efficiency while delivering a higher overall quality of care."
Related: IBM Watson Health Names Top 100 Hospitals for 2019
Related: IBM Watson Health Names 15 Top Health Systems for 2018
To conduct the study, researchers evaluated 337 health systems and 2,961 health system member hospitals, reviewing public data sets. These are the 15 systems that topped the list:
Large Health Systems
- Avera Health – Sioux Falls, SD
- Mayo Foundation – Rochester, MN
- Mercy – Chesterfield, MO
- St. Luke's Health System – Boise, ID
- UCHealth – Aurora, CO
Medium Health Systems
- Edward-Elmhurst Health – Naperville, IL
- HealthPartners – Bloomington, MN
- Mercy Health, Cincinnati – Cincinnati, OH
- Parkview Health – Fort Wayne, IN
- TriHealth – Cincinnati, OH
Small Health Systems
- Asante – Medford, OR
- Aspirus – Wausau, WI
- PIH Health – Whittier, CA
- ProHealth Care – Waukesha, WI
- Spectrum Health Lakeland – St. Joseph, MI
If all Medicare inpatients were to receive the same level of care as those treated at these 15 health systems, more than 60,000 more lives could be saved and healthcare-associated infections would drop 10%, according to extrapolations by IBM Watson Health. The full report is available from IBM Watson Health.