By CELESTE BOTT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Eight Michigan hospitals were ranked among the top 100 in the nation, based on new a study, including ones in Grayling, Holland, Southfield and Greenville.
Truven Health Care Analytics, the company that conducted the study, analyzes nationwide Medicare data in an effort to improve health care.
Jean Chenoweth, Truven’s senior vice president, said the list is intended to recognize health care facilities that best serve their local communities.
“The key is developing and maintaining a hospital-wide culture of excellence that cuts across everything, from patient care to housekeeping to administration, and the refusal to rest when it comes to adopting new technologies and techniques,” Chenoweth said.
The annual study looks at one year’s worth of Medicare data, comparing statistics that include morality rates, complications, patient safety, profitability, patient ratings and readmissions.
The study then breaks down the top hospitals into categories: major teaching hospitals; teaching hospitals; and large, medium or small community hospitals.
The best facilities receive the Everest Award – 17 hospitals with both the highest performance and the most improvement over five years.
These Michigan hospitals ranked among the top 100 in the country. Credit: Truven Health Care Analytics
Two Michigan hospitals won the Everest – University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Care Centers in Ann Arbor and Mercy Hospital Grayling.
Mercy Hospital’s chief executive officer, Stephanie Reimer-Matuzak, reflected on the changes that allowed her hospital to debut on the prestigious list.
“I think for a small, rural hospital like ours, one problem is managing the number of initiatives, because there are always new ones,” Reimer-Matuzak said. “But if you have a great process in place, if associates understand the goals, it becomes much easier to achieve.”
Mercy Grayling’s improvements include the creation of councils to improve patient care and coordination, and a perinatal safety initiative that greatly improved obstetric care.
According to Reimer-Matuzak, such changes proved useful when a nearby hospital closed, and Mercy Grayling’s number of annual deliveries saw a huge spike.
For Holland Hospital, ranked among the top medium community hospitals in the country, being on the list is encouraging but not a new experience.
According to Dale Sowders, its president, it’s the eighth consecutive year the hospital has received the top honor.
“We are the only hospital in West Michigan to have received both the Truven Health Analytics 100 Top Hospitals and the Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals awards,” Sowders said, citing another excellence ranking. “Achieving this level of recognition for eight consecutive years is a powerful validation that we consistently provide high-quality care at Holland Hospital.”
Others on the Truven’s list in Michigan are Spectrum Health United Hospital in Greenville; Providence Hospital and Medical Center in Southfield; Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph; St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor; Beaumont Hospital in Troy.
Neighboring states also saw hospitals featured on Truven’s list, including four hospitals in Ohio, four in Wisconsin and one in Indiana.
Truven estimates that if all hospitals nationally performed at the same level as the 100 Top Hospitals winners, more than 164,000 additional lives could be saved annually, nearly 82,000 additional patients could be complication-free, $6 billion could be saved and the average patient stay would decrease by nearly half a day.
100 Top National Hospitals http://100tophospitals.com/top-national-hospitals/