ANN ARBOR, Mich, April 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM
Watson Health™ (NYSE: IBM) today published its 15 Top Health
Systems™ annual study identifying top-performing
health systems in the U.S. based on overall organizational
performance. Formerly known as the Truven Health Analytics® 15 Top
Health Systems, this study spotlights its best-performing health
systems in the U.S., based on a balanced scorecard of measures
derived from publicly available clinical, operational, and patient
satisfaction data. It has been conducted annually since 2008.
This year's study finds that of those health systems surveyed,
the country's top-performing health systems are achieving better
clinical and operational performance through more consistent care
among member hospitals. The 2018 Watson Health 15 Top Health
Systems study features a quantitative measure of member hospital
alignment, which evaluates the consistency of clinical and
operational performance among the individual hospitals within each
health system. It finds a small but discernable difference in the
level of individual hospital alignment within top-performing health
systems than is found in peer group health systems. Specifically,
the annual volatility in key performance measures is 1.9 percentage
points lower among the member hospitals of winning health systems
than it is among peer group health system members.
The trend of lower overall variability, or volatility, within
individual member hospital performance metrics among winning health
systems is statistically significant over a five-year period.
"Intuitively, many healthcare professionals have believed for
years that individual hospital alignment is a key to health system
success, but alignment has been difficult to quantify. Put simply,
we wanted to determine how well health systems are achieving the
goal of delivering a consistent patient experience in each of their
facilities, and start benchmarking that performance each year,"
said Jean Chenoweth, Senior Program
Director, 100 Top Hospitals Programs, IBM Watson Health. "Based on
our data, it is clear that better hospital alignment does indeed
play a role in overall health system performance, and it is
something we will be investigating further."
Following were the key performance measures on which 15 Top
Health Systems showed the most significant outperformance versus
non-winning peer group health systems:
- Fewer Deaths: Overall, 15 Top Health Systems
winners had 14.6 percent fewer in-hospital deaths than non-winning
peer group health systems.
- Fewer Complications and Infections: Patients at winning
health systems experienced 17.3 percent fewer complications and
16.2 percent fewer healthcare-associated infections than peer group
health systems.
- Shorter Length of Stay: Winning health systems had
a median severity-adjusted length of stay that was nearly one
half-day shorter (0.4) than peers.
- Shorter Emergency Department Wait Times: Overall,
winning health systems delivered median emergency department wait
times that were 40 minutes shorter per patient than those of peer
group health systems.
- Lower Spend: Combined in-hospital and
post-discharge costs were 5.6 percent lower per episode in winning
health systems.
- Higher Patient Satisfaction: Overall hospital
experience, as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), was rated 2.3 percent
higher for winning health systems than peer group health
systems.
The Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems study evaluates health
system performance across nine clinical and operational performance
benchmarks: risk-adjusted inpatient mortality index, risk-adjusted
complications index, mean healthcare-associated infection index,
mean 30-day risk-adjusted mortality rate, mean 30-day risk-adjusted
readmission rate, severity-adjusted length of stay, mean emergency
department throughput, Medicare spend per beneficiary index and
HCAHPS score.
Extrapolating the results of this year's study, if all Medicare
inpatients were similarly situated and received the same level of
care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:
- More than 60,000 additional lives could be saved;
- More than 31,000 additional patients could be
complication-free;
- Healthcare-associated infections would be reduced by 16%;
and
- Patients would spend 40 minutes less time in hospital emergency
rooms per visit.
To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, IBM Watson Health
researchers evaluated 338 health systems and 2,422 health system
member hospitals. All research was based on the following public
data sets: Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and
Review (MEDPAR) data, and Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs)
and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not
apply for awards, and winners do not pay to market this honor.
For more information, visit www.100tophospitals.com.
Here are the winning health systems, by category:
Large Health Systems
Mayo Foundation – Rochester, MN
Mercy – Chesterfield, MO
Sentara Healthcare – Norfolk,
VA
St. Luke's Health System – Boise,
ID
UCHealth – Aurora, CO
Medium Health Systems
Aspirus Network – Wausau,
WI
HealthPartners – Bloomington,
MN
Mercy Health, Cincinnati –
Cincinnati, OH
Mission Health – Asheville, NC
TriHealth – Cincinnati, OH
Small Health Systems
Asante – Medford, OR
CHI St. Joseph Health – Bryan,
TX
Maury Regional Health – Columbia,
TN
Roper St. Francis Healthcare – Charleston, SC
UPMC Susquehanna Health System – Williamsport, PA
About the IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals®
Program
The IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals, formerly the Truven
Health Analytics 100 Top Hospitals, program uses independent and
objective research to analyze hospital and health system
performance. Organizations do not apply or pay for this honor or
pay to promote their award. Award-winning hospitals and health
systems prove that better care is possible and provide an example
for other organizations to follow across the industry. The 100 Top
Hospitals award winners demonstrate top performance on both how
patients are cared for under clinical measures and how the hospital
performs as an efficient business. 100 Top Hospitals is a
registered trademark of Truven Health Analytics, part of the IBM
Watson Health business. Visit 100tophospitals.com for
more information.
About IBM Watson Health
Watson Health is a business unit of IBM that is dedicated to the
development and implementation of cognitive and data-driven
technologies to advance health. Watson Health technologies are
tackling a wide range of the world's biggest healthcare challenges
including cancer, diabetes, drug discovery and more. Learn more
at ibm.com/watson/health.
CONTACT
Catherine Afarian
408.656.8872
cat@ibm.com
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-watson-health-finds-nations-top-performing-health-systems-deliver-more-consistent-care-across-member-hospitals-300634204.html
SOURCE IBM Watson Health