Lawrence Memorial Hospital Named
One of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals
For Fourth Straight Year
2016 Truven 100 Top Hospital
Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH) this week again was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics™. This is the fourth straight time LMH has been recognized with this national award for organizational performance.
LMH President and Chief Executive Officer Gene Meyer said, “For the fourth year in a row, Lawrence Memorial Hospital has earned its place among the nation’s top 100 hospitals, making us the first and only hospital in Kansas to achieve this prestigious recognition four times.
“I know it’s not the same as 12 Big 12 titles,” Gene quipped, “But in our world it’s a significant accomplishment given the number of hospitals that are in the running for this type of recognition.”
To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Truven Health researchers evaluated 2,769 short-term, acute-care, non-federal hospitals. The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals study evaluated hospitals in five categories: major teaching and teaching hospitals, and large, medium, and small community hospitals. LMH was one of 20 winners in the medium community hospitals category (100-249 beds), the largest category which includes 950 hospitals.
Truven Health Analytics, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a leading provider of data-driven analytics and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals® study identifies hospitals and leadership teams that provide the highest level of value to their communities, based on a national balanced scorecard measuring overall organizational performance across 11 key analytic measures, including patient care, operational efficiency and financial stability. Hospitals do not apply, and winners do not pay to market this honor. The study has been conducted annually since 1993.
The 100 Top Hospitals researchers used risk-adjusted methodologies to analyze public information — Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare reports. Rather than conducting a one-year analysis, which only captures performance at a specific snapshot in time, the Truven Health study looks at data that reflect five-year performance for most measures.
Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Truven Health Analytics, said, “The 2016 100 Top Hospitals award winners represent the highest national standards in hospital care and management. They set the benchmarks for peers around the country to follow.”
This year’s 100 Top Hospitals study revealed significant differences between award winners and their non-winning peers. The nation’s best hospitals:
- Had a lower mortality index, considering patient severity
- Had fewer patient complications
- Followed accepted care protocols
- Had lower 30-day mortality and 30-day readmission rates
- Sent patients home sooner
- Provided more timely emergency care
- Kept expenses low, both in-hospital and through the aftercare process
- Score better on patient surveys of hospital experience
Meyer said, “At LMH, we have earned our position among the top U.S. hospitals through our culture of performance improvement, our outstanding leadership, physicians and staff who embody evidence-based management as well as evidence-based medicine, and our unwavering dedication to the health of our community. As the center of healthcare in this community – not to mention one of Lawrence’s largest employers – we know financial health, operational efficiency and high quality patient care must be at the center of everything we do, and every decision we make.
“Our focus going forward will be to continuously reset our performance targets for ongoing improvement throughout our hospital. From our Board leaders to our physicians and health care providers, staff and volunteers, LMH is proud to share this honor with our community for the fourth consecutive year.”
The winning hospitals were announced in the Feb. 28, 2016 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com.
