TOP HEALTH SYSTEMS

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals: Health System Benchmarks is an annual, quantitative study. With objective, independent research using public data sources, we identify the 10 health systems setting the highest benchmarks on a modified 100 Top Hospitals Balanced Scorecard focused on clinical quality and efficiency.

The winners of this award outperformed their peers by providing better care, following standards of care more closely, saving more lives, creating fewer patient complications, making fewer patient safety errors, and earning better overall patient satisfaction scores.

This year's top health systems had

• 12.3% fewer mortalities
• 13.2% fewer complications
• 5.4% better patient safety than their peers
• Patients returning home sooner — with an average length of stay more than half a day shorter than at similar systems — and with better longer-term outcomes.

STUDY DETAILS

• Released: June 21, 2010

To qualify: A health system must have at least two short-term, general acute care hospitals. The study included nearly every system with valid 2007 and 2008 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) and 2009 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare data. This analysis included 255 health systems.

Key performance measures:

• Risk-adjusted mortality index
• Risk-adjusted complications index
• Risk-adjusted patient safety index
• Core measures mean percent
• 30-day risk-adjusted mortality rate
• 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rate
• Severity-adjusted average length of stay
• HCAHPS score (patient rating of overall hospital performance)

Download the top health systems abstract to learn more about our methodology and findings.

Read study methodology highlights.

THE TOP HEALTH SYSTEMS