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EVANSTON, Ill, March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hospitals in the Midwest are setting new national standards for clinical outcomes, patient safety, financial performance, efficiency, and growth in patient volume. These findings are from a new study by Solucient, part of Thomson Healthcare, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.
The Solucient 100 Top Hospitals(R): National Benchmarks for Success study annually examines changing performance levels in U.S. hospitals and objectively identifies 100 benchmark hospitals based on overall performance. The 2006 winners from the 14th edition of the study are announced in the March 12 issue of Modern Healthcare. More than half of the winning hospitals in the 2006 study are from the Midwest, and 30 of the 100 Top Hospitals facilities are in two states --Michigan and Ohio. When researchers evaluated hospital performance on a state-by-state basis, nine out of 12 Midwest states placed in the top two quintiles. The Midwest was also the top region in hospital performance in the 2004 edition of the 100 Top Hospitals national study. "The heavy concentration of high-performing hospitals in the Midwest represents the effectiveness and commitment of hospital leaders in the region," says Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president, performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs, Center for Healthcare Improvement, Thomson Healthcare. "When 75 percent of the states in a single region perform at such high levels, it reflects a single-minded focus on raising performance levels. The concentration of 30 percent of the 100 Top Hospitals in Michigan and Ohio is a tribute to the effort these hospitals' boards, CEOs, and medical staff leaders have made to increase the value of services to their communities and patients." At the other end of the spectrum, nearly two-thirds of states in the South (10 out of 17) ranked in the lowest two quintiles. Six states were ranked in the top quintile in both 2004 and 2006 (Kentucky, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Washington state, and Wisconsin), while seven states remained mired in the bottom quintile in both studies (Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Wyoming). Furthermore, three of the most populous states -- California, New York, and Texas -- placed in the two lowest quintiles in both studies. While the Midwest emerged as the clear overall leader in the 2006 study, 100 Top Hospitals winners in the West and South achieved the lowest expenses in the nation, and the West and Midwest set the benchmarks for profitability. "These findings may be attributable in part to the more favorable payment environment in the West," says David Foster, Ph.D., chief scientist, Thomson Healthcare. "In general, fewer patients in the West rely on Medicare than in the Northeast or Midwest region. On the other hand, the difficult payment environment in the Northeast produced benchmark hospitals with the lowest profitability, the highest expenses, and the longest length of stay." However, 100 Top Hospitals national winners in the Northeast overcame these challenges to achieve the greatest growth in patient volume and the highest level of compliance with core measures - a set of widely accepted minimum standards of care for all patients. Other findings from the study: -- If all hospitals performed like the benchmark hospitals, more than 100,000 additional patients could survive each year, and an additional 114,000 could avoid complications. -- With 25 percent higher admissions per bed, benchmark hospitals treated more patients than non-winning hospitals and also treated patients who were sicker and required more complex treatment. -- The 100 Top Hospitals facilities spent an average of 12 percent less, per discharge, than peer hospitals. -- Median total profit margin at 100 Top Hospitals winners was nearly three times the median of peer hospitals. -- Salaries and benefits were $3,200 more a year per full-time staff member at benchmark hospitals. The 14th edition of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success study uses a balanced scorecard approach and scores hospitals according to nine key organization-wide measures: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, patient safety, core measures average, growth in patient volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, expense per adjusted discharge, profit from operations, and cash to debt ratio.
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Hospitals
in the Midwest lead the nation in performance,
according to Solucient study