New Solucient 100 Top Hospitals Study Recognizes Nation's Performance Improvement Leaders

3/15/2004

From: Tarsis Lopez of Solucient, 847-440-9619 or tlopez@solucient.com

EVANSTON, Ill., March 15 -- For the first time, Solucient is recognizing 100 U.S. hospitals with the highest rates of improved patient outcomes and financial performance over a five-year period.

Senior management at these hospitals developed an organization- wide culture of performance improvement, according to the new study, Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders, The First Edition which appears today in the March 15, 2004 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.

Based on an analysis of overall U.S. hospital improvement rates between 1997 and 2001, the study identifies organizations that have improved across critical measures at a faster rate than other U.S. hospitals. These measures include quality of care, operational efficiency, and financial performance.

"This study is a major step forward in objectively measuring the impact a superior management team can have on an organization over time by instilling a culture of change," said Jean Chenoweth, executive director of Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals program. "These hospitals are poised to thrive as the growth of pay for performance and consumerism force change in the industry."

"The introduction of a national comparative assessment of hospital performance improvement is a valuable innovation," said David Foster, PhD, vice president of clinical informatics at Solucient. "This will help measure the impact of major industry changes, such as the Balanced Budget Act, on hospital organization-wide performance."

Among the key findings:

-- Between 1997 and 2001, performance improvement leader hospitals, or "PI Leaders," decreased their average mortality rate by 24 percent, compared to eight percent for peer hospitals in the study.

-- Patient complications at PI Leader hospitals decreased by 17 percent, while complications at peer hospitals decreased by only 5 percent.

-- PI Leaders were able to return patients back to everyday life faster than those at peer hospitals in the study. By 2001, patients at PI Leader hospitals were released nearly a day quicker than at peer hospitals.

-- Expenses per discharge at PI Leader hospitals fell by three percent between 1997 and 2001, while expenses at peer hospitals increased by more than 15 percent.

Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders study analyzed acute care hospitals nationwide using detailed empirical performance data from years 1997 through 2001, including publicly available Medicare MedPAR data and Medicare cost reports. Facilities recognized on the PI Leader list are represented across five hospital classes:

-- Major Teaching: 15

-- Teaching: 26

-- Large Community, 250-plus Beds: 20

-- Medium Community, 100 to 249 Beds: 19

-- Small Community, 25 to 99 Beds: 20

The study scored facilities according to key measures: risk- adjusted mortality and risk adjusted complications, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, percent of outpatient revenue, total asset turnover, and coding specificity.

To view the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders list, log on to http://www.100tophospitals.com.

Media Notes:

-- More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at http://www.100tophospitals.com. An executive summary of the 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders study is available to the media by emailing tlopez@solucient.com or logging on to http://www.100tophospitals.com.

To schedule an interview with Jean Chenoweth, executive director of Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals program, contact Tarsis Lopez at 847-440-9619 or tlopez@solucient.com.

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