Solucient 100 Top Hospitals

Benchmarks for Success study:

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Home > Studies > 1998 national study > Introduction

100 Top Hospitals:
Benchmarks for Success Study — 1998

Introduction and highlights of this year's study

Performance measurement is challenging in any context; it is particularly so for a health care industry undergoing consolidation in an increasingly demanding marketplace. To help hospitals achieve higher levels of performance, HCIA and William M. Mercer, Incorporated, have produced the sixth 100 Top Hospitals: Benchmarks for Success study. As reported each year in Modern Healthcare Magazine, this unique study identifies industry benchmarks by recognizing hospitals and their management teams that demonstrate superior performance. The model we used to produce the 100 Top Hospitals study identifies facilities that excel in their clinical practices, operations, and financial management.

A glance at 1998’s 100 Top Hospitals reveals:

Quality, as measured by mortality and complications, at benchmark hospitals was at least 16 percent better than in the rest of the country.

Benchmark hospitals have done more with less. On average they have employed 18 percent fewer staff per unit, have had 22 percent higher occupancy, and been consistently more profitable.

For complex cases, benchmark hospitals had an average length of stay that was 7 percent shorter than other hospitals’.

If all U.S. acute hospitals were to operate like the 100 Top Hospitals, expenses would decline by an aggregate $26.3 billion a year.

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100 Top Abstract and Custom Study now available!

Reserve your copy of the new 100 Top Hospitals study abstract, complete with regional findings, graphs, in-depth analyses, and important benchmarking data by calling (800) 568-3282. Or arrange to have your hospital compared against its peer group and a national benchmark by calling Barry Utterbaugh at (410) 895-7471. For related publication information, visit the HCIA Publications.

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