Fast Facts:
Solucient 100 Top Hospitals®:
Performance Improvement Leaders,
The First Edition

WHAT IS IT?

The Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders study recognizes - for the first time - hospitals and their management teams for leading their facilities to achieve the fastest rate of consistent annual organizational improvement among all U.S. hospitals between 1997 and 2001. For details, click here.

WHO CONDUCTED THE STUDY?

The study is presented by Solucient.

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

The study was released on March 15, 2004.

WHICH HOSPITALS WON?

For a complete list of winners, click here.

HOW WERE THE WINNERS CHOSEN?

We assigned each hospital in the study group to one of five comparison groups according to bed size, teaching status, and residency program involvement. We calculated eight performance measure values for each hospital within each comparison group using Medicare cost reports and MEDPAR data from years 1997 through 2001. Within the comparison groups, we ranked hospitals on the basis of their performance on each of the eight measures relative to other hospitals in their group. We then summed each hospital's performance-measure ranking to arrive at a total ranking for the hospital. Seven of the eight performance measures were given equal weight in this ranking; the exception is the coding specificity measure, which carries a weight half that of the other measures. The hospitals with the best total ranking in each comparison group were selected for the list.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS?

This year's performance improvement leaders have lower mortality rates, shorter lengths of stay, and lower expenses compared with a peer group of U.S. hospitals. 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.

• Major Teaching - 15
• Teaching - 26
• Large Community, 250+ Beds - 20
• Medium Community, 100 to 249 Beds - 19
• Small Community, 25 to 99 Beds - 20
  

WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?

All media inquiries should be made to Ginny Sexton at Solucient, (847)424-4358; gsexton@solucient.com.

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