100 Top Hospitals® Study Shows Strong Link Between Top Performing Hospitals and Continuous Improvement

EVANSTON, IL – July 26, 2004 – A statistically significant link exists between top performing hospitals and those that show the greatest improvement in performance, according to new findings by Solucient®.

The finding is the result of the latest research conducted about hospitals recognized through one of Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals® programs. The research demonstrates that continuous improvement over time is strongly associated with success in the 100 Top Hospitals National Benchmarks study, and dispels the idea that poor performing hospitals are the most likely to show the highest rates of ongoing, measurable improvement.

"This research refutes the assumption that poorly performing hospitals are most likely to be advantaged when measured by rate and consistency of improvement while very high performers experience difficulty in showing continual high rates of improvement," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president of performance improvement and the 100 Top Hospitals programs at Solucient's Center for Healthcare Improvement. "This study demonstrates that an organization aligned to support a culture of performance improvement can consistently achieve a higher rate of improvement than peers. These results enhance the nascent development of a new science - the measurement of leadership and management performance."

Data from previous studies of the 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders (PI Leader) and the 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success were analyzed to determine the relationship between improvement and performance.The research concluded that being a winner in the National Benchmark for Success study was significantly and strongly associated with being a winner in the PI Leader study. Hospitals that had won the national award more times were ranked higher, on average, in the PI Leader study.

Analysis also revealed that the more times a hospital has won the national benchmark award, the greater its improvement during the relevant time period. This suggests an increasing gap in performance between the top hospitals and others.

"Our results indicate that steady and substantive improvement over time does lead to performance excellence," explained David Foster, Ph.D., vice president of clinical informatics at Solucient. "While this association makes intuitive sense, it is reassuring to be able to demonstrate it quantitatively. Further investigation may lead to more specific insights."

Complete details about the research finding are available at www.100tophospitals.com. Other just released findings about geographic trends and patient safety performance among 100 Top Hospital award winners are covered in a special supplement to the July 26 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.