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 Hospitals
in the Midwest lead the nation in performance,
according to Solucient study
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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