Posts Tagged Hospital Value Index (TM)
What it all Means: Practice versus Theory
Posted by John Morrow in Healthcare Reform on November 16th, 2009
Data Guy:
No one disputes that there is variation in care and outcomes in the US and that variation manifests in many, many different ways. Most of us have been staring that variance in the eye for well over two decades. Some of us have even been doing something about it on a national scale.
One way to look at variation is to study Medicare spending per capita and to declare that if spending is high, and not justified by outcomes (controlling for age, gender, and other socio-economic factors) that it is a bad thing, and most might agree. It sounds logical and consistently plays out for the dozen or so years that the Dartmouth Atlas Project has been pushing for reform. Same model, same results no surprise there.
Others, especially those who build systems, collect data for analysis, test hypothesis, build models, teach physicians about variance and get their hands dirty every day with the “change” thing, know that the “stick approach” is nothing other than bad policy. What they also object to is the abject approach that if the spending says so then it is true!
I don’t have to cite examples of government data and research that points to illogical spending, reimbursement or taxation for that matter to make my point any more clear.
The simple point gentlemen is that there is no one single thing that makes McAllen, East Long Island, Grand Junction or Rochester exceptionally good or bad, except that they are at similar points on some researchers pole that doesn’t adjust for all variables.
The reason that there is a Blog on The Hospital Value Index site is to also bring awareness to the multi-variant points of light that make health care unique from one place setting to another. The more we refine the analyses, and the better the data and methodology become, the closer we get to root cause. But until then, let’s stay focused on some key factors; utilization, safety, satisfaction, process measures, risk adjustment for case severity, efficiency, outcomes and price (and maybe a few other things) all matter! AND when building models and drawing conclusions it is more helpful to have complete, current and accurate data! GIGO is what we once called it, “garbage in, garbage out”.
Where the rubber hits the road is not with the researcher’s ego and political affiliation or even source of funding and grants, but with what we all can learn and deploy when we working stiffs go into hospitals and try to re-train the physicians and staff; most of whom weren’t taught anything about economics while they were studying for their Board certification. It may be just that easy…or not!
If you have a better point to make, go build something like RWJ funded at Dartmouth, or invest a couple million dollars and try to create your own engine like we did. I personally appreciate your contributions and look forward to your results.
John R. Morrow
Founder: The Hospital Value Index™, 100 Top Hospitals:Benchmarks for Success®, The Patient Satisfaction Index™
Best in Value™ Hospitals Recognized for Affordability and Efficiency
Posted by Editor in Data Advantage, For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Index News, Value-Based Purchasing on November 16th, 2009
Merit Award names hospitals nationwide; NY, PA & AL top the list
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Today, Data Advantage, LLC announced the names of hospitals receiving the Best in
Value: Superior Affordability & Efficiency Merit Award™ from the 2009-2010 Hospital Value Index™, the
first and only national study on U.S. hospitals and the value of care they provide.
The Superior Affordability & Efficiency Merit Award™ showcases hospitals that deliver affordable, high
quality care to their communities with high patient satisfaction. Hospitals in economically diverse
markets, such as New York, Pennsylvania and Alabama, indicate success on all fronts and dominate this
Merit Award list. Interestingly, no hospitals from California made the list.
“The American Hospital Association recently revealed that profitability at community hospitals is
decreasing,” said Hal Andrews, CEO of Data Advantage. “Even so, hospitals like the Affordability &
Efficiency Merit Award winners are able to prevail in an economic downturn by operating their hospitals
efficiently. In doing so, this group is able to provide their patient communities with affordable
healthcare.”
“With upcoming health reform legislation and the insolvency of the Medicare trust fund in 2017,
hospitals can expect continuous pressures on reimbursement. It will be increasingly important for
hospitals to deliver high-quality care in an efficient manner,” added Andrews.
The Hospital Value Index™ is an independent analysis of each hospital’s performance in the categories
of: quality, affordability & efficiency and patient satisfaction. Out of the more than 4,500 hospitals that
were analyzed, 75 received the Superior Affordability & Efficiency Merit Award for achieving high marks
in the affordability & efficiency category.
In order to receive the award, hospitals were first considered as Best in Value™, or in the top 25 percent
of all hospitals when considering quality and patient satisfaction. The top 10 percent of this group were
then recognized in the affordability & efficiency category in order to receive the Superior Affordability &
Efficiency Merit Award™.
“The Affordability & Efficiency Merit Award™ hospitals exhibit some remarkable results,” said John R.
Morrow a founder of the Hospital Value Index™ study. “These hospitals improved their scores on
average by 18.58% representing the top ten percent of all hospitals in the study, while those in the
bottom ten percent on average saw a decrease of 23.51% in their affordability and efficiency scores.”
“These improvements reflect both a reduction of costs and a decrease in prices charged for the market
basket of services. This reveals a progressive and enhanced value proposition that these hospitals
deliver to their local communities every day,” Morrow added.
In alphabetical order, the Superior Affordability and Efficiency Merit Award recipients from the 2009-
2010 Hospital Value Index™ study are:
• ACMH Hospital – Kittanning, PA
• Alle-Kiski Medical Center – Natrona Heights, PA
• Anson General Hospital – Anson, TX
• Arkansas Methodist Medical Center –Paragould, AR
• Arnot Ogden Medical Center – Elmira, NY
• Bertrand Chaffee Hospital – Springville, NY
• Billings Clinic – Billings, MT
• Bourbon Community Hospital – Paris, KY
• Bristow Medical Center – Bristow, OK
• Brooks Memorial Hospital – Dunkirk, NY
• Butler Memorial Hospital – Butler, PA
• Canton-Potsdam Hospital – Potsdam, NY
• Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center – Ogdensburg, NY
• Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic – Clifton Springs, NY
• Community Hospital – Tallassee, AL
• Decatur General Hospital – Decatur, AL
• DuBois Regional Medical Center – DuBois, PA
• East Texas Medical Center Crockett – Crockett, TX
• Five Rivers Medical Center – Pocahontas, AR
• Gilmore Memorial Hospital – Amory, MS
• Graham Regional Medical Center – Graham, TX
• Greenbrier Valley Medical Center – Ronceverte, WV
• Hamilton General Hospital – Hamilton, TX
• Helen Keller Memorial Hospital – Sheffield, AL
• Heritage Valley Beaver – Beaver, PA
• Heritage Valley Sewickley – Sewickley, PA
• Highland Hospital – Rochester, NY
• Iberia General Hospital and Medical Center – New Iberia, LA
• Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital – Bath, NY
• Jameson Memorial Hospital – New Castle, PA
• Jamestown Hospital – Jamestown, ND
• Jellico Community Hospital – Jellico, TN
• Jennings American Legion Hospital – Jennings, LA
• Jones Memorial Hospital – Wellsville, NY
• Kenmore Mercy Hospital – Buffalo, NY
• Lakeland Community Hospital – Haleyville, AL
• Lakeside Memorial Hospital – Brockport, NY
• Livingston Regional Hospital – Livingston, TN
• Marion General Hospital – Columbia, MS
• Marshall Medical Center South – Boaz, AL
• McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital – Oxford, OH
• Medcenter One – Bismarck. ND
• Mercy Hospital – Buffalo, NY
• Meritcare Health System – Fargo, ND
• Minden Medical Center Inc – Minden, LA
• Monroe County Hospital – Monroeville, AL
• Morehead Memorial Hospital – Eden, NC
• Nason Hospital – Roaring Spring, PA
• Nicholas H. Noyes Memorial Hospital – Dansville, NY
• Northern Hospital of Surry County – Mount Airy, NC
• Northwest Medical Center – Winfield, AL
• Pauls Valley General Hospital – Pauls Valley, OK
• Punxsutawney Area Hospital – Punxsutawney, PA
• Roane Medical Center – Harriman, TN
• Rochester General Hospital – Rochester, NY
• Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital – Sweetwater, TX
• Southeast Alabama Medical Center – Dothan, AL
• St. Alexius Medical Center – Bismarck, ND
• St. Bernard’s Medical Center – Jonesboro, AR
• St. Clair Memorial Hospital – Pittsburgh, PA
• St. Francis Hospital – Charleston, WV
• St. Joseph’s Hospital Yonkers –Yonkers, NY
• St. Mary’s Hospital at Amsterdam – Amsterdam, NY
• St. Mary’s Medical Center of Campbell County – La Follette, TN
• Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital – Weston, WV
• Takoma Regional Hospital – Greeneville, TN
• Tawas St Joseph Hospital – Tawas City, MI
• Taylor Regional Hospital – Hawkinsville, GA
• Uniontown Hospital – Uniontown, PA
• Unity Hospital of Rochester – Rochester, NY
• UPMC Bedford – Everett, PA
• Weirton Medical Center – Weirton, WV
• Wheeling Hospital – Wheeling, WV
• Williamson Memorial Hospital – Williamson, WV
• Woman’s Christian Association – Jamestown, NY
For more information on the Voices of Value™ and the Best in Value™ hospitals, please visit
www.HospitalValueIndex.com.
Note: In order for hospitals to publicize results, including the use of this news release, hospitals must
obtain written approval from Data Advantage. To do so, please contact Araby Thornewill at 866-996-
3282.
Hospital Value Index™ Quality Award Recipients Released
Posted by Editor in Data Advantage, Findings, For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Healthcare News, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Value-Based Purchasing on November 2nd, 2009
Superior Quality Merit Award recognizes 75 hospitals nationwide
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ‐ Data Advantage, LLC announced today 75 hospitals receiving a Best in Value™: Superior Quality Merit Award from the 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™ the first and only national study on U.S. hospitals and the value of care they provide.
The 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™is an independent analysis of each hospital’s performance in the categories of: quality, affordability & efficiency and patient satisfaction. Out of the more than 4,500 hospitals that were analyzed, 75 received the Superior Quality Merit Award for achieving high marks in the quality category.
“This group of hospitals has a proven ability to deliver high quality care, a key element in providing overall value to their communities,” said Hal Andrews, CEO of Data Advantage. “Our study suggests that hospitals that achieve outstanding scores in the area of quality will be rewarded in the new world of Value‐Based Purchasing, so each of these hospitals is off to a good start.”
The quality category is analyzed using data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Core Measures, AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators, CMS 30‐day mortality scores and CMS reported hospital readmission rates. In order to receive the award, hospitals were first considered as Best in Value™ or in the top 25 percent of all hospitals in the study. The top 10 percent of this group were then ranked in the quality category in order to receive the Superior Quality Merit Award.
“The Hospital Value Index™ study found that all hospitals recognized as Best in Value™ improved their quality scores by an average of 8.14% since March 2009, while those that were not recognized as Best in Value™ saw a drop in quality by 1.1% during the same term,” said John Morrow, a founder of the Hospital Value Index™ study.
“Quality continues to improve in high value hospitals, and these Merit Award recipients are being recognized for their exceptional quality performance,” Morrow added.
In alphabetical order, the Superior Quality Merit Award recipients from the 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™study are:
- Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital (Downers Grove, IL)
- Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center (Omaha, NE)
- Alegent Health Lakeside Hospital (Omaha, NE)
- Alegent Health Mercy Hospital (Council Bluffs, IA)
- Alegent Health Midlands Hospital (Papillion, NE)
- Arnot Ogden Medical Center (Elmira, NY)
- Aurora Baycare Medical Center (Green Bay, WI)
- Ball Memorial Hospital (Muncie, IN)
- Baylor Medical Center at Irving (Irving, TX)
- Berger Hospital (Circleville, OH)
- Berkshire Medical Center (Pittsfield, MA)
- Bon Secours-Memorial Regional Medical (Mechanicsville, VA)
- Carolinas Medical Center‐University (Charlotte, NC)
- Centra Health (Lynchburg, VA)
- Clara Maass Medical Center (Belleville, NJ)
- Cleveland Clinic Florida (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
- Community Medical Center (Toms River, NJ)
- Cullman Regional Medical Center (Cullman, AL)
- Delray Medical Center (Delray Beach, FL)
- Evanston Hospital (Evanston, IL)
- Flowers Hospital (Dothan, AL)
- Forsyth Memorial Hospital (Winston
- Fort Madison Community Hospital (Fort Madison, IA)
- Fremont Area Medical Center (Fremont, NE)
- Gaston Memorial Hospital (Gastonia, NC)
- Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center (West Islip, NY)
- Goshen General Hospital (Goshen, IN)
- Hackensack University Medical Center (Hackensack, NJ)
- Hackettstown Regional Medical Center (Hackettstown, NJ)
- Harlingen Medical Center (Harlingen, TX)
- Heartland Regional Medical Center (Saint Joseph, MO)
- Holland Community Hospital (Holland, MI)
- Holy Name Hospital (Teaneck, NJ)
- Huntington Beach Hospital (Huntington Beach, CA)
- Integris Mayes County Medical Center (Pryor, OK)
- Jackson Purchase Medical Center (Mayfield, KY)
- Kettering Medical Center (Dayton, OH)
- Kettering Medical Center‐Sycamore (Miamisburg, OH)
- Kingwood Medical Center (Kingwood, TX)
- La Palma Intercommunity Hospital (La Palma, CA)
- Main Line Hospital Bryn Mawr Campus (Bryn Mawr, PA)
- Mariners Hospital (Tavernier, FL)
- Meadowview Regional Medical Center (Maysville, KY)
- Memorial Hospital Pembroke (Hollywood, FL)
- Memorial Regional Hospital (Hollywood, FL)
- Mercy Medical Center‐Dubuque (Dubuque, IA)
- Mercy San Juan Medical Center (Carmichael, CA)
- Minden Medical Center (Minden, LA)
- Moberly Regional Medical Center (Moberly, MO)
- Munson Medical Center (Traverse City, MI)
- Newport Hospital (Newport, RI)
- North Ottawa Community Hospital (Grand Haven, MI)
- Oklahoma Heart Hospital (Oklahoma City, OK)
- Owatonna Hospital (Owatonna, MN)
- Parkway Medical Center (Decatur, AL)
- Peninsula Medical Center (Burlingame, CA)
- Presbyterian Hospital (Charlotte, NC)
- Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville (Huntersville, NC)
- Reid Hospital and Health Care Services (Richmond, IN)
- Saint Joseph Hospital London (London, KY)
- Saint Joseph Mercy Saline Hospital (Saline, MI)
- St. Charles Hospital (Port Jefferson, NY)
- St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center (Sioux City, IA)
- St. Mary’s Health Center (Jefferson City, MO)
- Summa Health System Barberton Hospital (Barberton, OH)
- Sutter Roseville Medical Center (Roseville, CA)
- Tawas St. Joseph Hospital (Tawas City, MI)
- Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne (Cleburne, TX)
- United Hospital Center (Clarksburg , WV)
- Vassar Brothers Medical Center (Poughkeepsie, NY)
- Venice Regional Medical Center (Venice, FL)
- Walker Baptist Medical Center (Jasper, AL)
- Walla Walla General Hospital (Walla Walla, WA)
- West Anaheim Medical Center (Anaheim, CA)
- Williamsport Hospital and Medical Center (Williamsport, PA)
For more information on the Voices of Value™and the Best in Value™hospitals, please visit www.HospitalValueIndex.com.
About Data Advantage, LLC
Data Advantage, LLC is a privately held healthcare information company that specializes in providing hospitals and other healthcare ‐related businesses with independent and objective business intelligence. The company has aggregated and compiled a warehouse of the most insightful information about healthcare utilization and maintains comprehensive benchmarks about the financial, operational and clinical performance of the U.S. hospital industry. For more information, visit www.data‐advantage.com or call 866‐996‐3282.
100 Top Best in Value(TM) Hospitals
Posted by Editor in Data Advantage, Findings, For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Healthcare News, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Index News, Value-Based Purchasing on October 12th, 2009
Hospital Value Index: Top 100 Best in Value ™ Hospitals Released
100 Top Best in Value(TM) Hospitals
Hospitals in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Alabama and North Carolina cited the most
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) ‐ Data Advantage, LLC announced today the Top 100 Hospital: Best in Value Hospitals™ list from the 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™, the first and only national study on U.S. hospitals and the value of care they provide.
The hospitals in the Top 100 list represent nearly every state in the U.S. The states with the most hospitals achieving Top 100 Best in Value™ recognition were: New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Alabama and North Carolina.
“These are the hospitals that set the bar for the nation when it comes to value. If every hospital performed at the level of the Top 100, we found that more than $60 billion per year could be saved,” said Hal Andrews, CEO of Data Advantage.
“The Hospital Value Index™ winners are a geographically diverse group of hospitals that have a proven ability to deliver high value care to their communities and represent a model of care that other U.S. hospitals should look to,” added Andrews. “As legislators consider health reform, we believe that it will be increasingly important to recognize and reward those hospitals that deliver outstanding value.”
These results are part of the findings from the 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™ study, an analysis of the value of care provided at more than 4,500 U.S. hospitals. As part of the release, Data Advantage is inviting hospitals and healthcare leaders to participate in the Voices of Value™ Summit, which will take place in Chicago December 7‐9. Industry leaders will convene at the Westin Chicago River North and discuss topics such as value, affordability, efficiency and patient satisfaction.
In alphabetical order, the Top 100 list of hospitals from the 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™ study is:
• Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center (Omaha, NE)
• Alegent Health Mercy Hospital (Council Bluffs, IA)
• Alegent Health Midlands Hospital (Papillion, NE)
• Alleghany Regional Hospital (Low Moor, VA)
• Arnot Ogden Medical Center (Elmira, NY)
• Berkshire Medical Center (Pittsfield, MA)
• Bertrand Chaffee Hospital (Springville, NY)
• Billings Clinic (Billings, MT)
• Bon Secours ‐Memorial Regional Medical (Mechanicsville, VA)
• Butler Memorial Hospital (Butler, PA)
• Carolinas Med Center‐Mercy (Charlotte, NC)
• Carolinas Med Center‐University (Charlotte, NC)
• Carolinas Medical Center‐Northeast (Concord, NC)
• Centra Health (Lynchburg, VA)
• Chelsea Community Hospital (Chelsea, MI)
• Citizens Medical Center (Victoria, TX)
• Clinch Valley Medical Center (Richlands, VA)
• Cobleskill Regional Hospital (Cobleskill, NY)
• Community Medical Center (Toms River, NJ)
• Connally Memorial Medical Center (Floresville, TX)
• Cullman Regional Medical Center (Cullman, AL)
• Dixie Regional Medical Center (Saint George, UT)
• Dubois Regional Medical Center (Du Bois, PA)
• Flowers Hospital (Dothan, AL)
• Forsyth Memorial Hospital (Winston Salem, NC)
• Fort Madison Community Hospital (Fort Madison, IA)
• Gaston Memorial Hospital (Gastonia, NC)
• Graham Regional Medical Center (Graham, TX)
• Greenbrier Valley Medical Center (Ronceverte, WV)
• Hamilton General Hospital (Hamilton, TX)
• Heart Hospital of Lafayette (Lafayette, LA)
• Heartland Regional Medical Center (Saint Joseph, MO)
• Henry Ford Macomb Hospital (Clinton Township, MI)
• Heritage Valley Sewickley (Sewickley, PA)
• Holland Community Hospital (Holland, MI)
• Integris Mayes County Medical Center (Pryor, OK)
• Jackson Purchase Medical Center (Mayfield, KY)
• Jefferson Regional Medical Center (Crystal City, MO)
• Kettering Medical Center (Dayton, OH)
• Kettering Medical Center –Sycamore (Miamisburg, OH)
• Lakeside Memorial Hospital (Brockport, NY)
• Lakeview Med Center (Rice Lake, WI)
• McCullough‐Hyde Memorial Hospital (Oxford, OH)
• Meadowview Regional Medical Center (Maysville, KY)
• Medical Center Enterprise (Enterprise, AL)
• Memorial Regional Hospital (Hollywood, FL)
• Mercy Health Partners Hackley Campus (Muskegon, MI)
• Mercy Health Partners‐ Mercy Campus (Muskegon, MI)
• Mercy Medical Center (Des Moines, IA)
• Mercy Medical Center‐Dubuque (Dubuque, IA)
• Methodist Medical Center of Illinois (Peoria, IL)
• Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge (Oak Ridge, TN)
• Minden Medical Center (Minden, LA)
• Monroe County Hospital (Monroeville, AL)
• Montgomery Regional Hospital (Blacksburg, VA)
• Mount St. Mary’s Hospital and Health Center (Lewiston, NY)
• Nebraska Heart Hospital (Lincoln, NE)
• Northwest Medical Center (Winfield, AL)
• Oklahoma Heart Hospital (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Owatonna Hospital (Owatonna, MN)
• Paradise Valley Hospital (National City, CA)
• Parkway Medical Center (Decatur, AL)
• Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville (Huntersville, NC)
• Redmond Regional Medical Center (Rome, GA)
• Reid Hospital & Health Care Services (Richmond, IN)
• Rochester General Hospital (Rochester, NY)
• Saint Joseph Hospital (London, KY)
• Saint Joseph Mercy Saline Hospital (Saline, MI)
• Saint Vincent Health Center (Erie, PA)
• Saint Vincent Hospital (Worcester, MA)
• Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center (Mattoon, IL)
• Spectrum Health United Memorial ‐United Campus (Greenville, MI)
• St. Alexius Medical Center (Bismarck, ND)
• St. Anthony Hospital (Oklahoma City, OK)
• St. Anthony Regional Hospital (Carroll, IA)
• St. Charles Hospital (Port Jefferson, NY)
• St. Francis Health Center (Topeka, KS)
• St. Joseph Health Center (Warren, OH)
• St Josephs Hospital (Chippewa Falls, WI)
• St. Josephs Mercy Health Center (Hot Springs, AR)
• St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center (Sioux City, IA)
• St. Mary’s Health Center (Jefferson City, MO)
• St. Mary’s Hospital at Amsterdam (Amsterdam, NY)
• St. Vincent Healthcare (Billings, MT)
• Tawas St. Joseph Hospital (Tawas City, MI)
• Thomasville Medical Center (Thomasville, NC)
• Trinity Hospitals (Minot, ND)
• United Hospital Center (Clarksburg, WV)
• Unity Hospital of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
• UPMC McKeesport (McKeesport, PA)
• UPMC Northwest (Seneca, PA)
• UPMC Passavant (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Venice Regional Medical Center (Venice, FL)
• Walker Baptist Medical Center (Jasper, AL)
• Wesley Medical Center (Hattiesburg, MS)
• West Anaheim Medical Center (Anaheim, CA)
• Western Baptist Hospital (Paducah, KY)
• Wheeling Hospital (Wheeling, WV)
• White River Medical Center (Batesville, AR)
• Williamsport Hospital Medical Center (Williamsport, PA)
BMC gets high mark
Posted by Editor in Healthcare News on October 12th, 2009
The hospital is first in New England and 86th nationally out of 4,500 acute-care facilities in a survey.
By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Sunday, Oct. 11
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Medical Center has been ranked first in both the state and New England in a nationwide study conducted by a Tennessee firm that measures health-care value.
Nationally, BMC was ranked 86th out of the 4,500 hospitals that were considered for the 2009-2010 Hospital Value Index by Data Advantage LLC of Nashville, a privately held health-care information company that has specialized in providing the healthcare and business communities with independent and objective information about the country’s hospital industry since 1992.
Only acute-care general service hospitals that participate in the Medicare reimbursement program were considered for the Hospital Value Index, said Data Advantage’s senior adviser John Morrow. Specialty hospitals, veterans hospitals, and private health organizations that don’t participate in federal programs were excluded, he said.
The rankings are based on each hospital’s quality, affordability, efficiency and patient satisfaction performance under the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) regulations. BMC received high marks in all four of those areas. The index is designed to use only objective, verifiable, and quantitative data that are consistent and complete across the country to ensure objective measurement rather than anecdotal evidence, according to Data Advantage.
Berkshire Health Systems Chief Operating Officer Diane Kelly said BMC’s ranking is the culmination of a “10-year journey” that began when BMC’s board of directors and president and CEO David Phelps made a commitment to quality that began when Gray Ellrodt was hired as chair of medicine a decade ago.
“What’s different and exciting about this award is that it has a strong component in quality of care, which is really the mission and purpose of everything that we do here at BMC,” Kelly said. “I’m happy to see that we have valuation from external organizations such as the index not just in top performance in quality, but having done so in a cost-effective manner, which is critical for any health-care system.”
“These national achievements for Berkshire Medical Center are a testament to the dedication of our medical staff, employees, trustees, and leadership team, and reinforce our commitment to providing the highest level of quality care for our patients,” Phelps said in a written statement.
This is the third time that Data Advantage has compiled the Hospital Value Index, but only the second time it has released the rankings publicly, Morrow said. The company’s previous rankings were focused on hospitals that are located in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas.
“I don’t know off the top of my head if we ranked BMC previously,” Morrow said. “In the previous rendition, we didn’t rank and report on the findings, but in this rendition we did because we had expanded the analysis to include many, many more markets.”
Before the advent of the Hospital Index, no public measurement existed to integrate efficiency, affordability and quality, Ellrodt said.
“In my mind what’s exciting about this award and the Data Advantage approach is to be able to look at quality and at what cost,” Ellrodt said. “This is a big discussion in Congress right now, value.”
To reach Tony Dobrowolski:
TDobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com
or (413) 496-6224
Mr. Orszag, Please Hold the Mayo
Posted by Hal Andrews in For Consumers, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform on September 30th, 2009
While we have spent the last two weeks using our GPS to report the 747 hospitals that the Hospital Value Index™ identified as Best in Value, we noticed over the weekend that Mr. Orszag is still lost with his Atlas.
In the September 27 edition of The New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports on the White House’s intensive lobbying efforts to find a Republican Senator to support its vision for health reform. One example cited is a dinner of “lamb loin and Scottish salmon” between Mr. Orszag and Senator Susan Collins, during which Mr. Orszag reportedly e-mailed questions to Dr. Dennis Cortese at the Mayo Clinic.
As articulated here before, the Mayo Clinic has much to recommend it, but low cost, high value healthcare is not among them. Having walked the corridors of hospitals in more than 30 states, I am certain that the medical foundation model is not something that can be replicated successfully throughout America. If, however, Mr.Orszag is bound and determined to use the medical foundation model as the blueprint for national reform, we would again suggest using the GPS to find his way. Using the GPS will point him to the Billings Clinic, which the Hospital Value Index™ reveals produces the highest value of any of the medical foundation or clinic model in the U.S.
Better yet, we would suggest that Mr. Orszag join us at the Voices of Value™ Summit to learn what the 747 Best in Value hospitals have in common that allows them to produce high value care in urban and rural America, in teaching and non-teaching settings, whether for-profit or not-for-profit.
New Study of Best In Value™ Hospitals Highlights Potential Savings
Posted by Editor in Data Advantage, Findings, For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Healthcare News, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Value-Based Purchasing on September 19th, 2009
NEW STUDY OF BEST IN VALUE™ HOSPITALS HIGHLIGHTS POTENTIAL SAVINGS OF $600B OVER 10 YEARS
Hospital Value Index™ reveals 747 hospitals leading the way in delivering affordable, quality care
Top Findings: America’s best hospital value often found in smaller towns, Midwest states
The 2009‐2010 Hospital Value Index™ ranked hospitals by an independent analysis of each hospital’s quality, affordability, efficiency and patient satisfaction performance. Out of the more than 4,500 hospitals that were analyzed, 747 were identified as providing the Best in Value™ care.
Key findings in the Hospital Value Index™ include:
• The highest value hospital care is often provided by community‐based hospitals, suggesting that consumers may find high value close to home and that policymakers should expand their search for models of reform beyond “name‐brand” teaching hospitals.
• If all hospitals in the U.S. performed at the average benchmark for the Best in Value™ hospitals, 9.3% of costs, or approximately $60B, could be eliminated from annual hospital spending on an all‐payer basis.
• The highest ranked hospitals in the study are geographically diverse, with the top 10 hospitals located in Dothan, AL; Minden, LA; Tawas City, MI; Clarksburg, WV; Gastonia, NC; Maysville, KY; Elmira, NY; Mechanicsville, VA; Holland, MI; and Winston‐Salem, NC.
• Of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., the highest ranked markets are Charlotte, NC, Rochester, NY, Grand Rapids, MI, Pittsburgh, PA and Knoxville, TN. Markets with a population of less than 2,000,000 outperformed markets with a population of more than 2,000,000.
• There was no appreciable difference in performance between teaching hospitals and nonteaching hospitals.
• The study found that the top five states with hospitals delivering high value are North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and Maine. The bottom five states for finding hospitals providing high value care are New Mexico, Arkansas, California, Hawaii and Nevada.
• The study found the gaps in hospital value can be dramatic. In one example, the study found the cost for the same medical procedure provided with the same quality of care at hospitals less than two miles apart can be more than $10,000.
The full findings of the study – and market by market rankings of hospital value performance – areavailable to the public for free at www.HospitalValueIndex.com.
Health reform
“As legislators consider health reform and as consumers shoulder an increasing burden of the cost of healthcare, it is important to recognize and reward those hospitals that deliver outstanding value,” said John Morrow, a senior advisor to Data Advantage.
“Healthcare consumers are increasingly making decisions based on value including quality, patient satisfaction and affordability. Hospitals providing the best value will ultimately be rewarded with more business.”
One of the prominent initiatives in health reform is Value‐Based Purchasing, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) first recommended in November 2007. According to CMS, Value‐Based Purchasing will “drive improvements in clinical quality, patient‐centeredness and efficiency” in hospitals.
“The Hospital Value Index™ is the first‐ever and only benchmark to analyze these components to help hospitals understand their value proposition,” said Hal Andrews, CEO of Data Advantage. “In Value‐Based Purchasing, hospitals will likely be reimbursed based on the overall value that they deliver, and it is essential for hospitals to understand the areas in which improvements are needed. Regardless of the ultimate scope of reform, it is clear that the future of the American economy depends upon value becoming the key determinant in purchasing healthcare.”
The Hospital Value Index™ defines a hospital’s “value” by its success in four critical areas:
Quality, including CMS’s Core Measures, patient safety, mortality and readmission rates;
• Efficiency, including the relative measure of the cost to the hospital for providing services;
• Affordability, a relative comparison of prices charged for inpatient and outpatient services, including what hospitals ultimately collect; and
• Patient satisfaction as measured by HCAHPS.
Study summit
In the study, Data Advantage found many hospitals in every state that are providing exceptional value in an increasingly demanding environment. The Best in Value™ hospitals are urban and rural; teaching and non‐teaching; for‐profit and not‐for‐profit.
“Now, more than ever, it is important to identify those hospitals that have achieved excellent results,” said Morrow. “These hospitals are the models for success under health reform.”
In order to discover the keys to delivering high value, Data Advantage will host the Voices of Value™ Summit in December, where Hospital Value Index™ leaders will discuss and share best practices in achieving and providing value in this new era.
Data Advantage will reveal more details on the Voices of Value ™ Summit in the coming weeks, and additional comments from the Voices of Value™ participants can be found below.
About Data Advantage, LLC
Data Advantage, LLC is a privately held healthcare information company that specializes in providing hospitals and other healthcare‐related businesses with independent and objective business intelligence. The company has aggregated and compiled a warehouse of the most insightful information about healthcare utilization and maintains comprehensive benchmarks about the financial, operational and clinical performance of the U.S. hospital industry. For more information, visit www.data‐advantage.com
or call 866‐996‐3282.
Voices of Value™
(full quotes are available at www.HospitalValueIndex.com)
“The HCA TriStar Health System is honored to be named among the ‘best value’ health systems in America. Our ranking is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our staff and physicians, and our continued focus on efficiency, effectiveness, and quality outcomes.”
Larry Kloess, President
HCA TriStar Health System (Nashville, Tennessee)
“Our leadership team and staff continue to look at the way we operate our hospital in order to provide improved value, quality and service to our community. We are excited about sharing our strategies, as well as learning new practices from hospitals at the Voices of Value™ summit.”
Lloyd Ford Jr., PhD, FACHE, President and CEO
Jefferson Regional Medical Center (Festus, Missouri)
“Billings Clinic appreciates the recognition as a leader in value from Data Advantage. We are strong believers in the importance of providing quality care at an optimal cost in our current health care environment and to prepare for future changes in health care.”
Nicholas Wolter, MD, CEO
Billings Clinic (Billings, Montana)
“Parkway is honored to be named a Top 100™ Hospital. We strive to be a leader in offering outstanding ‐ high value ‐ care for our community. At Parkway, patients can expect to be treated always with compassion and professionalism and to have access to the latest medical expertise and advanced technology. It is this combination that positions us well for the future.”
Tim McGill, CEO
Parkway Medical Center (Decatur, Alabama)
“Zeeland Community Hospital is honored to receive the Best in Value™ Award. The award is an affirmation of our most sincere efforts to meet the needs of our community and exceed their expectations in terms of quality, efficiency and compassionate care.”
Henry A. Veenstra, President
Zeeland Community Hospital (Zeeland, Michigan)
“I am pleased that Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts has been recognized as one of the Top 100™ hospitals in the country in terms of the ‘value’ it provides. If health reform is to be successful at the state and federal levels, hospitals like Saint Vincent that provide the highest level of quality care at reasonable costs will lead the way.”
Joseph J Mullany, President
Vanguard Health System, New England & Chicago Market
“This achievement is truly a team effort combining the efforts of our Board, medical staff, employees, and community creating a quality health care system. St. Anthony is proud to be recognized by this award and will continue to make a caring difference every day. ”
Gary Riedmann, President
St. Anthony Regional Hospital & Nursing Home (Carroll, Iowa)
“Holy Name Hospital is honored to be ranked among the top hospitals in the country for quality, efficiency, affordability and patient satisfaction. The Best in Value™ award is distinguished by its use of published data from objective, third‐party sources. The value index isn’t anecdotal or subjective; it’s culled from a wide variety of nationally‐recognized standards, measures and indicators, and I think that’s what makes this recognition especially meaningful. One of the key tenets of our mission is stewardship, and that’s being recognized here. I am continually impressed by the way our entire team of employees, nurses and physicians comes together in a process that creates value, engendering excellence on every
level.”
Michael Maron, President/CEO
Holy Name Hospital (Teaneck, New Jersey)
“The Best in Value™ Award recognition is a testament to the great care provided at Berger Hospital. We consistently hold ourselves accountable to deliver high‐quality, cost effective healthcare, and this third party review helps to validate our success.”
Tim Colburn, CEO
Berger Hospital (Circleville, Ohio)
“At a time when the nation is focused on providing both high quality and affordable healthcare, it’s great to earn national recognition for doing just that. Consumer education is increasingly more important when making healthcare decisions. This study from an independent source verifies the value we provide our patients.”
Rosemari Davis, CEO
Willamette Valley Medical Center (McMinnville, Oregon)
“I am very pleased that we, as a team, have been recognized with this award. Our people make the difference. They are passionate, caring and down‐to earth. Whether it’s a physician, nurse, therapist or the person who works in the lab or in dietary, people make an institution great. Certainly in healthcare that’s true. Over the last 20 years this organization has done a great job of creating the infrastructure of an integrated system, which is ideally suited to successfully face challenges in health care. Our focus is entirely patient centered and we benchmark against the best of the best to constantly improve the quality care and value we are able to offer our patients.”
Mark Laney, President and CEO
Heartland Health (Saint Joseph, Missouri)
“Earning this recognition demonstrates our commitment to excellence from every part of our organization – physicians, employees, volunteers, managers and our Board of Directors.”
Edward J. Roth III, President and CEO
Aultman Hospital (Canton, Ohio)
“There is no way to really reform health care without transparency, consistent metrics and full understanding of value for money. The Hospital Value Index™ is one of the fundamental building blocks for reform that results in an accountable system and a model for engaging physicians and patients in ways that can make a real difference.”
Jonathan T. Lord, CEO
Navigenics
Community Hospitals May Provide Higher Quality, Value
Posted by Editor in For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Healthcare News, Value-Based Purchasing on September 16th, 2009
Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, September 16, 2009
Some of the highest value hospital care actually may be provided by nearby community-based hospitals, according to the 2009-2010 Hospital Value Index released Tuesday that ranks hospitals by an analysis using publically available data on quality, affordability, efficiency, and patient satisfaction performance data……………………..
Community Hospitals May Provide Higher Quality, Value from Media Health Leaders
A Response to President Obama’s Call For Good Ideas
Posted by Hal Andrews in For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Value-Based Purchasing on September 11th, 2009
On Wednesday night, President Obama called for ideas to improve the proposals in Congress to reform healthcare. Taking him at his word, I propose the following for healthcare (not simply health insurance) reform.
My Foundational Premises:
Let me first state the two critical foundational premises that inform my proposals.
First, I don’t think that personal health records or electronic medical records will bring any cost savings to the system. I note that some of President Obama’s advisors agree. In any event, absent 100% inter-operability, PHRs and EMRs will always hit the “End of the Line”, to quote the Traveling Wilburys, most likely when a physician is in urgent need of the information. The only entity in the U.S. that can guarantee anything approximating 100% deployment is the Federal government, the most obvious example of which is the Social Security account.
Second, I think the HSA concept is a good one. Consumerism pervades every aspect of the American economy except for those health care services for which Medicare has established a fee. In contrast, consider how Americans shop for plastic surgery, cosmeceuticals, alternative therapies, and organic foods. I believe that training consumers to make unique value decisions in health care purchases is a good and necessary idea. Even when the tax-deductibility of employer-sponsored health benefits inevitably crumbles (the only real way to pay for reform), I think a tax-advantaged Health Savings Account is good policy.
My Plan:
I know that a good political plan should be summarized in three points, but healthcare merits a few more. Hence, the following eleven points represent a direction that the Federal government could take that would at once be palatable to a majority of working Americans, reap long-term cost-savings and other benefits such as allowing Americans to retain decision-making power over personal healthcare decisions and immediately incentivize the healthcare financing and delivery system to deliver far more value for the money.
- Couple the issuance of a Social Security card to newborns with a tax-advantaged HSA and a PHR.
- Similar to Senator Kerry’s proposal in the 2004 Presidential election, purchase a 25-year term catastrophic insurance policy for the child at birth.
- Deposit $2,000 per year into the HSA for preventive care.
- Marry SCHIP reform/expansion with those HSAs to deliver preventive care, specifically to incorporate CDC guidelines. Between preventive care and catastrophic coverage, we can cover the vast majority of every child’s healthcare needs.
- At age 18, allow the child to convert the balance of the HSA into a 529 account for college expenses.
- At age 24, “sweep” the balance of the account, if any, into the now-adult’s Social Security account and purchase a new 40-year catastrophic policy.
- For adults, a call for personal responsibility is critical – the healthcare delivery system is only 10% of the issue, while behavior and genetics are each more than 30%. For the 30%+ that is behavioral, ERISA should be amended to allow employers flexibility to provide incentives, but not penalties, for improved health behaviors. For the 10% that is related to healthcare purchasing, knowledge is power, and price/cost transparency is necessary to allow consumers to evaluate the value of the care that they need.
- The hardest issue, but perhaps most crucial, is the need to address the employer-sponsored tax benefit in a rational fashion so that the consumer/patient is incented to control the costs. The most likely positive unintended consequence of reform is the behavioral change that price/cost transparency would bring.
- Repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act is essential to health insurance reform. It is widely cited that Medicare’s administrative costs are lower than those of commercial insurers. CMS obviously has the benefits of scale that allow a lower administrative cost as a percentage of dollars paid. The critical fact in comparing CMS to United or Aetna or Wellpoint is that CMS does not have to follow state insurance regulations, which allows it to administer a global budget with one adminstrative team. In contrast, insurers with multi-state operations have tremendous duplication of the same essential function, which is required to comply with differing state requirements. It may seem counter-intuitive to Republicans to federalize the oversight of the insurance industry to eliminate the barriers presented by state-to-state regulation. In a sense, it is a restriction of state authority; in another sense, it is deregulation. Wise regulation can level the playing field across states for private players to compete at an administrative cost level with each other and with CMS.
- Address the issue or pre-existing conditions. Whereas the President seems to believe his version of the reforms will make them a non-issue, Republicans must address this one issue that resonates with most tax payers. If federal oversight is in place, and barriers to interstate competition lowered, wider risk pools will be available to the average consumer, thereby spreading the coverage cost over a larger base. In any event, pre-existing conditions cannot be allowed to prevent Americans from obtaining affordable insurance coverage.
- To date, Washington has focused almost no attention on the healthcare delivery side, which is the most complicated aspect. For starters, carefully analyze the 747 hospitals celebrated by The Hospital Value Index™, which should rightfully be the models of healthcare delivery reform, not just Mayo, the Cleveland Clinic and Intermountain. These examples routinely cited by the White House as models of reform cannot be replicated, mostly because they are geographic or demographic outliers. There are literally hundreds of hospitals delivering great value — go find them, find their commonalities, and start there.
A few concluding thoughts:
The White House, and particularly Peter Orszag at the OMB, are fixated on Dartmouth Atlas, which uses 2005 Medicare data as a prescription for reform. As we have demonstrated in our analysis, a “GPS” approach that evaluates the most recent all-payer data is much more insightful than an Atlas.
Elements of this plan do not provide immediate coverage for all uninsured, but it could be adapted to “grandfather” in every person in the U.S. who is under 18 at the effective date of the plan. It would, however, provide a much more targeted program than SCHIP, presumably at a lower cost. My belief is that the combination of a distinctly Democratic concept (Social Security) and an equally distinctly Republican concept (HSA) would allow a truly bipartisan solution.
I keep waiting for a call for shared sacrifice from Washington; instead, all of the bills or proposals shelter labor from any sacrifice in insurance reform. Health reform for all must mean ALL, not everyone except organized labor. As George Will suggests, we will all be much better off when 7% of the workforce stops making all the rules.
All of this requires more thought and discussion, but I think it is fairly reasonable.
A Real Reform Idea from the Joint Commission
Posted by Hal Andrews in For Consumers, Healthcare Financing, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform on September 10th, 2009
Earlier today, the Joint Commission announced the launch of the Center for Transforming Healthcare. The full details can be found here, but the idea is to team up with top hospitals and health systems across the country to use new methods to find the causes of and put a stop to dangerous and potentially deadly breakdowns in patient care. The first initiative is to “improve hand washing failures that contribute to health care-associated infections that kill nearly 100,000 Americans each year and cost U.S. hospitals $4 billion to $29 billion annually to combat.”
As referenced in David Goldhill’s article in the September issue of The Atlantic, what is troubling is that just obeying what your mother told you 3,684 times can generate as much as $30B in savings (or 37.5% of what the entire pharmaceutical industry wants to “contribute” to healthcare reform). Fundamentally, that suggests a simple lack of discipline throughout hospitals, and it is hard to pin the blame for that on the executive suite. As we have previously suggested, personal responsibility is a key, though forgotten, element in healthcare reform. If we need to start with the basics, so be it – let’s go.
What is exciting from a value perspective is that the first initiative is common-sense, low cost, and clearly proven to reduce infections. I am not sure whether success in this area requires organizational process improvement (Six Sigma, Lean) or just cultural change through inspired leadership.
I am also not sure why these initiatives always start with the “name” hospitals, though I applaud them for acknowledging their need for improvement. With the Hospital Value Index™, we are constantly reminded that the highest value healthcare in America is often delivered at hospitals that don’t make the U.S. News and World Report list. Let’s hope that the Joint Commission broadly embraces the hospitals that nobody talks about in the near future, where most of us receive our care.
I am sure that this initiative does not cost much money, and it will clearly save lives and dollars. If the White House is serious about the path to reform, it is the everyday blocking and tackling that will get us there. Kudos to Mark Chassin for demonstrating leadership in this area, and let’s hope that others follow quickly and forcefully.

