Scripps Health Named Among Top 15 Health Systems in Nation - 2014

The list recognizes the top five systems in three categories: small, medium and large based on their annual operating expenses. Scripps is the only California health system to be recognized in the “large” systems category (having more than $1.5 billion in operating expenses).

“This is a tremendous honor to be included yet again on this prestigious list,” said Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps. “This distinction is a direct reflection of the safe, exceptional, and compassionate care that our physicians, nurses and staff deliver every day to our patients.”

Among the key findings in the study were the following:

Better survival rates: The winning 15 top health systems experienced 2 percent fewer deaths than non-winning peer-systems.

Lower 30-day mortality rates: Winning systems’ 30-day mortality rates were lower than peer systems’, and smaller-sized winning systems outperformed their peers by the widest margin.

Fewer complications: Patients of the winning health systems had 3 percent fewer complications than patients in other systems.

Shorter hospital stays: Patients treated in the winning system hospitals had a median average length of stay of 4.5 days, over half a day shorter than their peers’ median of 5.0 days.

Better patient safety and core measure adherence: The top health systems had 8 percent fewer adverse patient safety events than expected, given the case mix of the particular hospital, and had better adherence to core measures of care than their peers.

“This year’s health system winners are setting the national standard for higher quality, efficiency and patient perception of care, which together mean higher value for each community served,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals® programs at Truven Health Analytics. "These systems have strong leadership and clinical excellence. And they are, or stand to become, outstanding partners with employers and other stakeholders in setting goals for improving community health.”

Methodology

U.S. health systems with two or more short-term, general, nonfederal hospitals; cardiac, orthopedic and women’s hospitals; and critical-access hospitals were assessed in the study. Researchers 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 (evidence-based core measures published by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS), and HCAHPS patient survey score. HCAHPS stands for the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, a part of a national initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals.

The study relied on public data from the 2011 and 2012 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data and the CMS Hospital Compare datasets.

Researchers from the Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals program have analyzed and reported on the performance of individual hospitals since 1993.