(CARBONDALE, IL) What does Southern Illinois Healthcare have in common with other nationally renowned healthcare systems like Mayo Foundation, Cleveland Clinic, BJC Healthcare, and Scripps Health?
The June 21st edition of Modern Healthcare magazine cited SIH alongside these industry giants as one of the Top 51 Best-Performing Systems in the country. This list, compiled by Thomson Reuters, represents the top 20-percent of all systems in the United States.
Thomson Reuters researchers analyzed the quality and efficiency of 255 health systems and found statistically significant differences between top and bottom performers in several key areas. Compared with the poorest performers, the best-performing quintile had 16 percent lower mortality, 18 percent fewer medical complications, and 16 percent fewer safety incidents—even though their patients were sicker and their average hospital stays were significantly shorter.
“It is an honor for SIH to be recognized in this fashion. It is proof that all of our efforts to improve quality and patient satisfaction are paying off. Administration can come up with ideas, but physicians, employees, and our volunteers are the ones who make patient care happen. We are in this position because of their efforts,” said SIH President and CEO Rex Budde.
The study assessed all U.S. health systems with two or more short-term, general, non-federal hospitals. 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 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and HCAHPS patient survey score (part of a national initiative sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals).
The study relied on public data from the 2007 and 2008 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPar) data and the CMS Hospital Compare data sets.
“The development of national benchmarks provides health system boards and executives with an objective assessment of the care they provided to their communities and patients, relative to others across the nation,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters.
The Top 51 recognition is the latest in a series of national accolades for the non-for-profit system. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale recently earned the 2010/2011 HealthGrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award for placing among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation for patient experience. Memorial’s Prairie Heart Institute is also a Thomson Reuters Top 100 Hospital for Cardiovascular Care for the second consecutive year. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, affiliated with Herrin Hospital, just retained its ranking as the nation’s best for the 20th consecutive year.
“For SIH, the national honors are nice from the standpoint that they are a validation that we are working on the right things because we are starting to show up in comparison against other facilities around the country and we are starting to shine. It also sends a message to the community that they can get a level of care locally that is as good as anywhere in the country,” said Budde.
About SIH: Southern Illinois Healthcare is a 501©3 not-for-profit integrated health system. It is comprised of over twenty facilities, including three inpatient hospitals, two clinics, two physician office buildings and dedicated centers that include cancer, heart, sleep, occupational medicine and rehabilitation.
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