FAST FACTS FOR Health System Quality/Efficiency Study

WHAT IS IT?

The groundbreaking new Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®: Health System Quality/Efficiency Study identifies the top 10 U.S. health systems by objectively measuring the clinical quality and efficiency of their member hospitals. For details, click here.

WHO CONDUCTED THE STUDY?

The study is presented by the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters.

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

The study was released on August 10, 2009.

WHICH HEALTH SYSTEMS WON?

For a complete list of winners, click here.

HOW WERE THE WINNERS CHOSEN?

Thomson Reuters built a database of 252 health systems, including all those with two or more short-term, general, nonfederal hospitals, using public data from the 2006 and 2007 MedPAR and the CMS Hospital Compare data sets. We scored systems on a set of five clinical quality and efficiency performance measures using a methodology that aggregates hospital-level data to the system level and accounts for hospital size and teaching status. We then determined the top 10 performers by ranking health systems on their aggregate performance measure scores.

For more details on methodology, click here.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS?

The top health systems are providing higher quality care, with fewer mortalities and patient complications and better adherence to patient safety standards and core measures of care. They are also treating patients more efficiently, with substantially shorter patient stays.

Based on the results of this study, we estimate that if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those in the 100 Top Health Systems-winning hospitals:

  • More than 47,000 additional patients would survive each year.
  • Nearly 92,000 patient complications would be avoided annually.
  • The average patient stay would decrease by more than half a day.
If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact would be even greater.

CAN I GET A COPY OF THE COMPLETE STUDY?

Yes. For a complimentary white paper on the study, click here.

WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?

Media inquiries should be made to David Wilkins at +1 734 913 3397 or david.wilkins@thomsonreuters.com. For all other inquiries, please click here.

RELATED LINKS

Find out more about the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals.