Scripps Health Selected Among Nation’s Top 10 Health Systems

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.

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

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