Scripps Health - All News for Scripps Clinic

Scripps Researchers Use Smart Knee Implant to Test Anti-Gravity Treadmill for Rehabilitation

2010-08-23T14:26:59-07:00

Scientists at the Shiley Center for Orthopaedic Research and Education (SCORE) at Scripps Clinic are conducting a study to test a new anti-gravity treadmill used for rehabilitation. They are gathering data from patients with a unique artificial joint called the electronic knee—or e-knee. The prosthesis contains transducers that measure actual forces inside the knee.

“The e-knee is unique in the research community and gives us an unprecedented ability to collect data,” said Darryl D'Lima, MD, PhD, laboratory director at SCORE. “Before we created it, information about the amount of force generated in the knee by various activities came from untested mathematical formulas.”

SCORE made history in 2004 when Clifford Colwell, MD, implanted the first e-knee into a patient. Four people now have the prosthesis; all of them are participating in the study, which is led by Dr. Colwell and sponsored by the rehabilitation device maker, AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill.

The treadmill was built with NASA technology and is available at the Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas rehabilitation center. Designed to simulate a weightless environment, it uses air pressure to lift the patient and reduce gravitational forces on the lower extremities. This “unloads” the knee joint and allows people to run or walk at a fraction of their weight. For those recovering from knee surgery, less force on the joint often means less pain.

“As the e-knee patients run or walk on the treadmill, the recorded data will tell us precisely how much weight is unloaded from the joint. With that information, we can determine how effective the treadmill is for unweighting the knee,” said Dr. Colwell. “Physical therapists may be able to use this data to refine rehabilitation protocols with the treadmill and speed up recovery following lower joint surgeries, which are becoming more popular as baby boomers age.”

Due in part to the aging and active boomer generation, demand for total knee replacements in the U.S. is predicted to grow by 673 percent – reaching 3.48 million – by the year 2030, according to a study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. By 2014, more than half of those needing total knee replacements will also be younger than 65 years.

“Research like ours is going to become increasingly more important as health reform begins and insurance companies demand proof of efficacy before offering reimbursement for treatment,” said Dr. D’Lima. “It’s a critical part of our health care evolution—and the e-knee makes it possible.”

About Scripps Health
Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $2.2 billion, private not-for-profit community health system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats a half-million patients annually through the dedication of 2,500 affiliated physicians and 13,000 employees among its five acute-care hospital campuses, home health care services, and ambulatory care network of physician offices and 19 outpatient centers and clinics.

Scripps is recognized as a leader in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, and is at the forefront of clinical research and graduate medical education. More information can be found at www.scripps.org.

Contact: Catherine Jacobs
Phone: 858-652-5520
E-mail: jacobs.catherine@scrippshealth.org

Scripps Health President & CEO Chris Van Gorder Named to List of Nation’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare

2010-08-24T18:06:57-07:00

San Diego – Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder, FACHE, has been selected to Modern Healthcare’s annual ranking of the nation’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare, published in the magazine’s Aug. 23, 2010 edition.

Van Gorder has been named to the list for four straight years and is the sole San Diegan selected in 2009 and 2010. He is the only San Diego health system executive ever to make the list since its inception in 2002.

In addition to his duties with Scripps Health, Van Gorder serves as chairman of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), an international professional society of more than 30,000 health care executives. As chairman, he is serving the second of a three-year term in ACHE’s consecutive chairmanship offices: chairman-elect, chairman and immediate past chairman.

Distributed nationally, Modern Healthcare is one of the nation’s largest health care trade publications. Earlier this year, Modern Healthcare invited readers to nominate candidates for the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare list. Readers submitted just under 56,000 nominations, more than double the nearly 25,700 last year, and Modern Healthcare then placed the 300 people who received the most nominations on a final ballot on its website. A full listing of this year’s selections can now be viewed at modernhealthcare.com

As president and CEO of Scripps Health since 2000, Van Gorder has led the nonprofit health system through $115 million operational turnaround, and in the process repositioned Scripps among the nation’s leading health care institutions. Scripps is now at the beginning of a $1.47 billion growth and expansion plan across the region and has recently branched out into leading-edge research areas such as genomics, translational science and wireless medicine.

This year, Scripps was recognized by Thomson Reuters as one of the nation’s top 10 health care systems for quality care and US News & World Report named the combined heart programs of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps Clinic as one of the best heart programs in the country. Scripps has also been named among the nation’s top employers by Fortune magazine, AARP and Working Mother magazine.

Van Gorder also serves as a commissioner on the California Commission on Emergency Medical Services. Under his leadership, Scripps Health worked with the state of California’s Emergency Medical Services Authority to develop the internal operations structure for the state’s recently purchased mobile field hospitals, to be used in the event of mass casualties from natural disasters or terrorist events. Van Gorder is also serving his second term as a commissioner to the United States Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

He is a clinical professor in health administration at the University of Southern California, where he also serves on the Board of Councilors for the university’s School of Policy, Planning and Development. In addition, he is a reserve commander in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Unit and a licensed emergency medical technician.

In 2009, Van Gorder received the B’nai B’rith National Healthcare Award for his leadership in health care, education, community service and disaster response. He has led Scripps’ disaster relief efforts to aid victims of natural disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and earlier, Hurricane Katrina.

Van Gorder received his master’s degree in public administration/health services administration from the University of Southern California and completed the Wharton System CEO Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles.

About Scripps Health

Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $2.2 billion, private not-for-profit community health system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats a half-million patients annually through the dedication of 2,500 affiliated physicians and 13,000 employees among its five acute-care hospital campuses, home health care services, and ambulatory care network of physician offices and 19 outpatient centers and clinics.

Media Contact: Rachel Lichterman
Phone: 858-678-7348
E-mail: lichterman.rachel@scrippshealth.org

How the Padres Stay in Top Shape on the Road

2010-08-12T12:41:31-07:00

Big Leaguers are the ultimate road warriors. The Padres travel approximately 38,000 miles per season – the distance of a full trip around the equator and then some.

The drawbacks go beyond jet lag and airport security checks. Players crave consistency, but travel separates them from daily routines that promote health, rest and focus.

These challenges also apply to the rest of us, says Heinz Hoenecke, MD, Padres head team physician from Scripps Clinic.

“Leisure or business travel can be exciting, but it’s also easy to feel run down if you don’t plan ahead,” says Dr. Hoenecke. “It’s important that people take the time to map out a good game plan for sleep, nutrition, hygiene and other aspects of good health.”

Here’s a look at how some Padres players stay in top form when they’re away from home:

Matt Stairs
“I wash my hands every time I walk by a soap dish – always have. I drink lots of water on flights and on the longer ones I get up and walk around as much as possible. And I bring along proper snacks. After a night game, you don’t want to eat pizza and french fries.”

Heath Bell
“I try not to sleep on airplanes, since it kind of messes with my neck. If your neck isn’t right you won’t be able to throw or swing a bat. I try to get plenty of sleep and I drink two bottles of water before bed and another when I wake up. It’s a grueling schedule so we have to be rested and hydrated.”

David Eckstein
“One of the most important things I do is bring two of my own personal pillows on the road with me. I also pack little healthy snacks in my bag, like fiber bars, so I’m not just eating whatever is around. Traveling presents lots of eating situations that aren’t great for your body.”

Nick Hundley
“I try to eat consistently, so I can keep my energy going. I try to choose the healthiest option on the menu. Sometimes it’s tough, but if you work at it you can find what you need. As a catcher I exert lots of energy, so I try to get at least nine hours of sleep a night to help rebuild my body.”

Cover These Bases Before Your Next Trip

Learn about your destination’s weather and health issues
Discuss your trip with your doctor and get all needed vaccines
Pack a travel health kit with items appropriate for your destination
Find someone at home to be your contact person while traveling

Visit www.Scripps.org/Padres for more sports medicine news and to play baseball trivia for a chance to win prizes.

Scripps Proton Therapy Center Breaks Ground

2010-08-04T14:17:11-07:00

San Diego – Health care leaders and developers gathered today to celebrate the groundbreaking of the $185 million Scripps Proton Therapy Center, which will be the first facility in San Diego County to offer advanced proton therapy to cancer patients, and only the second such center in the Western United States.

Grading for the facility is now under way and construction is expected to start in October 2010. The center is expected to be open for patient care by spring 2013.

The 102,000-square-foot center will have the capacity to treat approximately 2,400 patients annually. It is being built on a seven-acre site in the Carroll Canyon area of Mira Mesa, at 9577 Summers Ridge Rd.

The facility is being developed through a collaboration between Scripps Health, Scripps Clinic Medical Group and Advanced Particle Therapy (APT), LLC of Minden, Nev. The architect and general contractor for the center is Haskell Design Build of Jacksonville, Fla.

View image gallery

(Click images for captions.)

The new facility will include five treatment rooms, three of which will include gantries, which are rotational machines designed to deliver the therapeutic beam at the precise angle prescribed by the physician. The other two treatment rooms will have fixed-beam machines. The center will also offer MRI and CT scan diagnostic services in support of proton therapy; 16 patient exam rooms; and offices for 14 physicians.

The centerpiece of the facility will be a 90-ton cyclotron, which is about the same weight as a fully loaded 737 jetliner, but just 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. The cyclotron’s job is to accelerate protons to extremely fast speeds – roughly 100,000 miles per second – creating a beam that can reach tumors that are up to 14 inches deep. These beams can also be shaped in three dimensions to avoid surrounding healthy tissues, targeting tumors with unprecedented accuracy.

There are currently seven proton therapy patient treatment centers operating in the United States. They are located in:

Loma Linda, Calif. (opened 1990)
Boston, Mass. (opened 2002)
Bloomington, Ind. (opened 2004)
Houston, Texas (opened 2006)
Jacksonville, Fla. (opened 2006)
Oklahoma City, Okla. (opened 2009)
Philadelphia, Penn. (opened 2009)

For certain cancers, proton therapy offers a more precise and aggressive approach to destroying cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, compared to conventional X-ray radiation. Proton therapy involves the use of a controlled beam of protons to target tumors with control and precision unavailable in other radiation therapies. The precise delivery of proton energy limits damage to healthy surrounding tissue, resulting in minimal or no side effects to the patient. This precision also allows for a more potent and effective dose of radiation to be used.

Patients will be able to access this treatment through a referral to a specialist credentialed by the Scripps Proton Therapy Center. Proton therapy has an established history of reimbursement by Medicare and private health care payers.

A non-invasive treatment, proton beam therapy is usually performed on an outpatient basis and is considered most effective on solid, deep-seated tumors that are localized and have not spread to distant areas of the body.

Scripps Health will provide clinical management services to the center, and Scripps Clinic Medical Group will oversee the medical services. APT has arranged financing to build the center and purchase the proton therapy equipment from Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif. Additionally, APT will manage and maintain the building and equipment. The architect for the center is Haskell Design Build of Jacksonville, Fla.

Varian will equip the facility with a fully integrated proton therapy system. The center’s superconducting cyclotron will feature pencil-beam (or spot) scanning, which allows for modulation of the proton beam’s intensity. This allows doctors to precisely shape the dose distribution to concentrate on the targeted tumor while sparing normal healthy tissue.

Nearly 70,000 people worldwide have received proton therapy at centers in Europe, Asia and the United States. Patients typically receive approximately 30 treatments during a four- to six-week period. Each treatment lasts for approximately 15-25 minutes, after which the patient is free to carry on with daily affairs.

In addition to providing patient care, Scripps expects to be at the forefront of new and developing clinical applications as part of its proton practice and connection with other national centers.

With more than 300 affiliated physicians, Scripps Cancer Center is a nationally recognized leader in cancer care, providing comprehensive care at its four hospitals and various Scripps Clinic locations. Scripps Cancer Center seeks to provide the best possible treatment and cutting-edge research trials for patients by coordinating medical expertise in the areas of clinical cancer care, community outreach and clinical, translational and basic research. Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.

About Scripps Health

Scripps is recognized as a leader in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, and is at the forefront of clinical research and graduate medical education.

About Advanced Particle Therapy, LLC

Advanced Particle Therapy, LLC teams with clients seeking a complete turnkey solution to the implementation of a particle therapy cancer treatment center. The company provides its clients with facility planning, architectural design, equipment, construction, investment banking sources and services for debt and equity financing. More information is available at www.advancedparticletherapy.com.

Play it Safe in the Sun

2010-07-22T11:52:01-07:00

For day games, Padres second baseman David Eckstein won’t take the field until he’s slathered in sunscreen. Closer Heath Bell wears sunglasses and sits in the shade until it’s time to warm up.

“Being smart about our time in the sun is important for all of us,” says catcher Nick Hundley. “We all need to take it seriously.”

The Padres training staff does its part to protect the team by making sunscreen available throughout the clubhouse, training room and high-traffic areas. And the Padres medical staff from Scripps Clinic conducts skin cancer screenings throughout the year and provides treatment when needed.

Unprotected sun exposure is the most preventable risk factor for skin cancer – including the deadliest form, melanoma, which claims 8,700 lives in the U.S. annually. Non-melanoma skin cancers are less deadly, but still pose real health dangers. Left unchecked, skin cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body or cause physical disfigurement.

“Developing smart habits is the best way to protect your skin against sun damage,” says Dr. Hubert Greenway, head of dermatologic surgery at Scripps Clinic. “For example, men can use sunscreen instead of after-shave, and women can find sunscreen in many makeup products.”

Scripps Clinic offers the following tips to help San Diegans play it safe in the sun.

Sunscreen
Make sure the sun-protection factor (SPF) is at least 30 and the label says “broad spectrum,” which protects against UVA and UVB rays. Apply about 30 minutes before going outside and re-apply approximately every two hours, even on cloudy days.

Clothing
Try to wear broad-rimmed hats, long-sleeve shirts and pants. Some garments have sunscreen in the fabric, but potency can diminish with washings. UV-tinted sunglasses help prevent skin cancer around the eyes and guard against cataracts and macular degeneration.

Checkups
Have your family physician or dermatologist check your skin during your annual physical exam. Watch for significant changes in your skin’s appearance (such as bleeding or discoloration). Try to get in the routine of checking your “birthday suit” every year on your birthday.

Vitamin D
Get your vitamin D safely though a healthy diet that may include vitamin supplementation as an insurance policy. Approximately 15 minutes of sunshine per day usually provides all the Vitamin D that most people can convert from the sun.

Avoid These Skin Damage Danger Zones

Tanning Beds
These increase skin cancer risk and cause dry skin and wrinkles.
Sunburns
Most melanomas occur in areas that have previously been sunburned.
Midday Sun
UV rays are strongest from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; seek shade if possible.

Visit Scripps.org/Padres for more sports medicine news and to play baseball trivia for a chance to win prizes.

The Padres' Top 5 Medical Comebacks

2010-06-29T10:29:32-07:00

During the past 30 years as the Padres’ official health care provider, Scripps Clinic has helped heal countless injuries and illnesses.

But for a select few Padres, the journey from injury to health has been truly phenomenal.

Scripps orthopedic surgeon Jan Fronek, MD, and Padres head athletic trainer Todd Hutcheson recently selected their top five Padres medical comeback stories since Scripps joined the team 1980.

Tony Gwynn
During his 20-year career, “Mr. Padre” filled medical files as well as team record books. Gwynn underwent more than a dozen surgeries at Scripps, including eight on his left knee. He also had operations on both hands, a big toe, an Achilles tendon and his neck, along with broken bones in his wrist and fingers. Gwynn rebounded time and time again en route to a Hall of Fame career.

Woody Williams
In May 2000, Williams reported numbness in his right throwing arm and hand. The diagnosis: an aneurysm in his armpit, a rare ballooning of the artery that can have disastrous results if left to erupt. Williams’ defective artery was surgically repaired at Scripps. Two months later he was back on a Big League mound; he eventually became an All-Star and World Series starter.

Doug Brocail
Brocail’s chest tightness in early 2006 led Scripps and Padres staff to order a stress test, which showed a 99-percent blockage of a coronary artery – a potentially deadly condition if undetected. After Scripps performed the second of two procedures to clear multiple blocked arteries, Brocail rebounded to become the first to compete in a major pro sports league after angioplasty.

Chris Young
When Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols smashed a line drive into Young’s face in May 2008, the damage was devastating. Young suffered a fractured skull, deviated septum, broken orbital bone and multiple nasal bone fractures. He had surgery at Scripps and was back in a Major League lineup 10 weeks after the incident. Despite the layoff, he started almost 20 games in 2008.

Phil Nevin
The Padres three-time MVP dislocated his left shoulder in Spring Training 2003 and was widely expected to miss the entire season. At Scripps, he had surgery to anchor his torn labrum with a screw and sutures, and had his shoulder capsule tightened. By July ’03 he was back in the Padres lineup – 73 of his 208 career homers came after the operation.

Visit Scripps.org/Padres to learn more about the 30th anniversary of Scripps’ role as the medical provider for the San Diego Padres.

Summer 2010 Health and Wellness Classes

2010-06-25T16:04:34-07:00

See our quarterly Health Connections calendar for a list of health-related classes, screenings and events.

Events range from support groups to general health seminars to special training. Topics include:

Maintaining a healthy heart
Fitness, weight management and nutrition
Diabetes prevention and management
Arthritis management
“Grandparenting Today” classes
Cardiac screenings

For more information, or to sign up for a class, call 1-800-SCRIPPS (1-800-727-4777).

You can also visit our online classes and screenings listing to search for classes, and register online.

Health Information Library

Read articles on hundreds of health conditions and wellness topics in our health information library.

Scripps Announces Plans for Region’s First Proton Therapy Center

2010-06-17T17:07:22-07:00

San Diego – Scripps Health today announced plans to open the first patient care facility in San Diego County to offer advanced proton therapy to cancer patients. Groundbreaking for the $185 million Scripps Proton Therapy Center is expected in July 2010 and the facility is expected to be open for patient care by spring 2013.

The facility will be built through a collaboration among Scripps Health, Scripps Clinic Medical Group and Advanced Particle Therapy (APT), LLC of Minden, Nev. The 102,000-square-foot center will have the capacity to treat approximately 2,400 patients annually. It will be built on a seven-acre site in the Carroll Canyon area of Mira Mesa, at 9577 Summers Ridge Rd.

The Scripps Proton Therapy Center will be just the second proton therapy center in California and the Western United States, and is expected to attract patients from across the West.

“Scripps is excited to help provide access to one of science’s most sophisticated weapons against cancer,” said Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “This will be an immensely valuable resource for all of San Diego County and beyond. We see this as a major step forward, allowing us to provide the most comprehensive range of radiation therapy options available today.”

The new facility will include five treatment rooms, three of which will include gantries, which are rotational machines designed to deliver the therapeutic beam at the precise angle prescribed by the physician. The other two treatment rooms will have fixed-beam machines. The center will also offer:

MRI and CT scan diagnostic services in support of proton therapy
16 patient exam rooms
Offices for 14 physicians

View image gallery

(Click images for captions.)

There are currently seven proton therapy patient treatment centers in the United States. They are located in Loma Linda, Calif. (opened 1990); Boston, Mass. (opened 2002); Bloomington, Ind. (opened 2004); Houston, Texas (opened 2006); Jacksonville, Fla. (opened 2006); Oklahoma City, Okla. (opened 2009); and Philadelphia, Penn. (opened 2009).

“Our intent is to provide broad access to cancer patients throughout the region,” said Dr. Robert Sarnoff, president of Scripps Clinic Medical Group. “Scripps Clinic’s radiation oncology specialists are national leaders in the field who bring extensive knowledge and experience to our medical management of this additional tool to treat cancer.”

A non-invasive treatment, proton beam therapy is usually performed on an outpatient basis and is considered most effective on tumors that are localized and have not spread to distant areas of the body.

“With only seven proton treatment centers operating in the United States, we are honored to work with Scripps to provide a state-of-the-art facility that will treat patients from San Diego and beyond,” said Jeff Bordok, president and CEO of Advanced Particle Therapy, LLC.

In addition to providing patient care, Scripps expects to be at the forefront of new and developing clinical applications as part of its proton practice and connection with other national centers.

Scripps has long been a leader in providing cancer care in San Diego. It opened the county’s first blood and marrow transplantation program in 1980, and during the past 30 years the program’s patient survival rate has doubled. Scripps’ robotic surgery program currently offers patients the widest range of options in San Diego. And Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.

View video

See a brief video introduction to the Scripps center’s technology.

About Scripps Health

Scripps is recognized as a leader in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, and is at the forefront of clinical research and graduate medical education.

About Scripps Clinic Medical Group

Scripps Clinic Medical Group is a multi-specialty physician practice with 420 physicians representing 50 medical and surgical specialties. Scripps Clinic Medical Group and its physicians are world-renowned for research-driven care and medical specialty expertise offered at 10 outpatient locations throughout the San Diego region and within Scripps Health’s network of acute-care hospitals.

About Advanced Particle Therapy, LLC

Advanced Particle Therapy, LLC is a company that teams with clients seeking a complete turnkey solution to the implementation of a particle therapy cancer treatment center. The company provides its clients with facility planning, architectural design, equipment, construction, investment banking sources and services for debt and equity financing. More information is available at www.advancedparticletherapy.com.

Contact: Steve Carpowich
Phone: 858-678-7183
E-mail: carpowich.stephen@scrippshealth.org

Scripps Health Announces Proton Therapy Center

2010-06-28T17:16:06-07:00

Scripps Health announced plans to open the first patient care facility in San Diego County to offer advanced proton therapy to cancer patients. Groundbreaking for the $185 million Scripps Proton Therapy Center is expected in July 2010 and the facility is expected to be open for patient care by spring 2013.

Media Contact: Steve Carpowich
Phone: 858-678-7183
E-mail: carpowich.stephen@scrippshealth.org

As seen on FOX 5 San Diego on June 22, 2010.

Scripps Health Selected Among Nation’s Top 10 Health Systems

2010-06-21T13:17:05-07:00

San Diego, Calif. — Scripps Health has been selected as one of America’s top 10 health systems based on quality, safety, efficiency and patient satisfaction, according to a report from Thomson Reuters. Scripps is the only health system in California to receive this prestigious honor.

Researchers from the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program analyzed the quality and efficiency of 255 health systems nationwide, based solely on objective statistical data. They found statistically significant differences between top and bottom performers in several key areas. They looked at eight metrics that gauge clinical quality and efficiency:

Mortality
Medical complications
Patient safety
Average length of stay
30-day mortality rate
30-day readmission rate
Adherence to clinical standards of care
National patient satisfaction survey scores

Compared with the poorest performers, the best-performing hospitals had 16 percent lower mortality, 18 percent fewer medical complications, and 16 percent fewer patient safety incidents — even though their patients were sicker and their average hospital stays were significantly shorter.

“Scripps has been working for many years now to deliver care to our patients as a health care system rather than just as individual hospitals or providers,” says Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health president and CEO. “We have brought our excellent physicians and other clinicians together to take advantage of our system-wide clinical and health management expertise to use and develop evidence-based best practices for the benefit of our patients and our community.”

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program has analyzed and reported on the performance of U.S. hospitals since 1993. Today’s study is the second that assesses the relative quality and efficiency of inpatient care by health systems as single entities.

“The range of results between high- and low-performing systems raises difficult questions about health systems’ mission, achievement of objectives and accountability to their communities and patients,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters. “By developing health system benchmarks, we can help health system boards and executives grapple with these questions and set higher targets for performance improvement.”

All U.S. health systems with two or more short-term, general, non-federal hospitals were assessed for the 100 Top Hospitals: Health System Benchmarks Study.

The health systems study used data for 2007 and 2008 from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data set as well as the CMS Hospital Compare data set published in the third quarter of 2009.

To be included in the study, systems had to have at least two acute-care hospitals with a minimum of 25 beds each. The average number of hospitals for all systems in the study was 7.5.

To make the list of the top 10, systems must score at least as well as the median level of performance on each of the eight measures evaluated in the study, while also outranking their peers overall.

“This recognition by Thompson Reuters validates all of our hard work and efforts as a health care system,” says Van Gorder. “The congratulations should go to our physicians, nurses, other clinicians and all those in our system who support patient care as we care for all of our patients – one patient and one family at a time.”

Other hospitals in the top 10 were Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook, Ill.; Banner Health in Phoenix, Ariz.; Catholic Healthcare Partners in Cincinnati, Ohio; Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis, Minn.; Kettering Health Network in Dayton, Ohio; Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minn.; OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio; Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich.; and University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, health care and science and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization.

With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs 55,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, see www.thomsonreuters.com.

About Scripps Health

Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is a $2 billion nonprofit community health system based in San Diego, Calif. Scripps treats a half-million patients annually through the dedication of 2,500 affiliated physicians and 13,000 employees among its four acute-care hospitals (located on five campuses), 19 outpatient centers and home health care services.

Recognized as a leader in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, Scripps is also at the forefront of clinical research and graduate medical education.

Media Contact: Lisa Ohmstede
Phone: 858-626-7142
E-mail: ohmstede.lisa@scrippshealth.org