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High- and Low-Performing Hospitals
June 2016
The changing healthcare environment has put pressure on healthcare organizations to deliver top-quality care while keeping costs under control. Superior operational and financial performance can be measured by high margins and low costs. But there are significant operational indicators that differ between high- and low-performing hospitals, depending on whether performance is defined by expense or by margin. Often, hospitals with the lowest costs are considered the most successful. But low-cost hospitals do not necessarily behave the same way as hospitals with healthy margins. Low-cost hospitals can include both efficient hospitals and hospitals that are in dire financial circumstances that have forced them to even eliminate expenses necessary for their long-term fiscal health.
The shift from inpatient to outpatient care is increasing as hospitals transition from volume to value. A specific shift is seen in interventional cardiology treatment (cardiac catheterization, intracoronary stents, and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasties [PTCA]), which is moving from an inpatient hospital to outpatient hospital setting. Preliminary data show that most interventional cardiology procedures will soon be performed in the hospital outpatient setting. It will be important for hospitals to consider future demand and volume for interventional cardiology services; capacity for an increase in hospital outpatient volume; and staffing and operational implications.
The annual Truven Health AnalyticsTM 100 Top Hospitals® identifies U.S. hospitals with the best overall performance across multiple organizational metrics, including clinical, operational, and financial. The ability of some hospitals to adapt as the industry is changing demonstrates leadership as the winners set the standards their peers seek to achieve. The study revealed that the nation’s best hospitals had a lower mortality index, considering patient severity; had fewer patient complications; followed accepted care protocols; had lower 30-day mortality and 30-day readmission rates; sent patients home sooner; provided more timely emergency care; kept expenses low, both in-hospital and through the aftercare process; and scored better on patient surveys of hospital experience.
Truven Health Analytics™ evaluated the extent to which community need— a measure of the underlying economic and social factors that affect the overall health of a community, including income, cultural/language barriers, education, insurance and housing—is associated with elevated rates of preventable hospitalizations or an increased risk of hospitalization believed to be preventable with quality ambulatory care. The results of this investigation reveal a modest but statistically significant association between community need and an increased risk of hospitalizations that are believed to be preventable with good-quality ambulatory care.
