Tanner Health System is again among the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems, according to a report by research firm Truven Health Analytics.
It’s the second consecutive year Tanner has placed among the Top 15, and the third year overall. The health system also earned the honor in 2012 and 2014. No other health system in Georgia placed among the 15 Top Health Systems.
Truven Health Analytics is a provider of healthcare data and analytics solutions and services popular for its annual 100 Top Hospitals list. This is the seventh year Truven has released its 15 Top Health Systems report, analyzing data from more than 340 health systems and 2,841 member hospitals to determine the nation’s 15 top performers.
“This is a tremendous honor for Tanner,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System. “It wouldn’t be possible without the commitment we see every day from our medical staff, our clinical team and all our team members. Truven is one of the most significant indicators of quality and value that you’ll find in the healthcare industry. Placing among the nation’s top 15 — not just this year, but last year as well — demonstrates our commitment to provide an exemplary level of care and stand among the nation’s leaders, and to do so consistently.”
All 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 Truven’s study.
Researchers looked at nine 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); Medicare spend per beneficiary; and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient survey scores. The study relied on public data from the 2012 and 2013 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data and the CMS Hospital Compare datasets.
Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Truven Health Analytics, credited leadership teams at the top-performing health systems for helping their organizations transition faster and become more adaptive to change than their peers.
"Despite the headwinds of a slowly improving national economy, increased consolidation and a new set of rules imposed by reform, the 15 Top Health Systems have delivered higher quality and become more efficient,” said Chenoweth. “These leadership teams are transforming their systems more rapidly than their peers and they are proving that it is possible to do more with lower reimbursements. The common bond among all top-performers in our study is their ability to inspire collaboration and align best practices across their organizations. Management excellence has proven to be the key to reliable cost and quality improvement.”
Among the key findings in this year’s study, winning health systems achieved higher survival rates and fewer errors at a lower overall treatment cost than non-winning health systems.
The top performing hospitals were responsible for better survival rates and experienced fewer deaths, had 5 percent fewer complications, adhered more closely to patient safety and core measures — with an almost 11 percent better patient safety scorecard — and spent 7 percent less per care episode than non-winning health systems.
“Superior health system leadership has become the fundamental impetus for success in the post-reform healthcare environment,” said Mike Boswood, president and CEO of Truven Health Analytics. “By outperforming their peers across a wide range of key clinical and administrative performance measures, the leaders of the 15 Top Health Systems have shown that it is possible to consistently deliver higher quality care at a better value. It is an honor to recognize the efforts of these leadership teams.”
According to Howard, this achievement is all the more remarkable because it factors in quality scores at each of Tanner’s hospitals —Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, Higgins General Hospital in Bremen and Willowbrooke at Tanner.
“Building an environment where the focus on quality extends comprehensively to four inpatient care facilities is a huge feat,” said Howard. “It means that our patients can expect to receive the best care possible whether they’re choosing a Tanner facility in Bremen, Villa Rica or Carrollton. All our facilities are performing at the top of the industry.”
The Truven list is divided into three categories based on the winning organizations’ total operating expenses. Tanner placed in the Small Health Systems category.
“Health care has always been a competitive industry, but the growing trend toward transparency and accountability is helping patients make educated decisions about their care,” said Howard. “Truven’s list isn’t based on an award that we applied for or some nomination we made; it’s based on publicly reported quality data that’s out there for anyone to look at, for anyone to review, to help make the right choice concerning their care. Our physicians, nurses, therapists and everyone else at Tanner has been committed to leading the nation in quality. Our placement among the nation’s top health systems cements the reputation we’ve built one patient at a time.”
More information about the Truven announcement is available online at http://100tophospitals.com/studies-winners/15-top-health-systems. To view Truven’s 2015 study overview, visit: http://100tophospitals.com/Portals/2/assets/2015_15_Top_Health_Systems_Study.pdf.