PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Idaho and Eastern Oregon may be among the most remote locations in the country, but people here have access to some of the best health care. This week, St. Luke’s Health System was again named one of the 2022 15 Top Health Systems in the United States.
This is the ninth straight year the Idaho-based, not-for-profit health care organization has received the prestigious national recognition, formerly known as the IBM Watson Health Top 15 Health Systems. Other recipients include renowned health care systems such as Mayo Clinic and Penn Medicine.
“Each day I see examples of St. Luke’s staff, doctors and other providers giving the kind of care that they themselves want to receive. It is compassionate, personalized, and continuously striving to be the best possible care in the moment. Without such people and a shared culture of excellence, sustained results reflected in top health system recognition simply are not possible,” said Dr. Barton Hill, vice president and chief quality and safety officer at St. Luke’s.
Hill said St. Luke’s is honored by the acknowledgment: “It’s especially meaningful given all that hospitals, health systems and caregivers around the globe have done for more than two years to care for their neighbors, friends, families and colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The 2022 15 Top Health Systems report evaluated health systems across the U.S. Using specific clinical and administrative performance metrics, the report concentrated on metrics like how well patients recovered, whether they were satisfied with their care, how long they were in the hospital, what that treatment cost, any complications that may have occurred and the number of lives ultimately saved.
The award is different from other rankings because the organization conducts its work independently. Researchers rely on objective, independent studies and public data. St. Luke’s did not apply for consideration, and winners do not pay to market their recognition.
The top-performing health systems:
- Had fewer patient complications and deaths.
- Provided faster emergency care.
- Safely sent patients home to recover sooner.
- Had fewer patients returning to the hospital to be readmitted.
- Scored higher in patients’ ratings of their hospital experiences.
The recognition validates the work St. Luke’s does to meet its mission: To improve the health of people in the communities it serves. Over the years, St. Luke’s has made a concerted effort across its eight hospitals and more than 300 clinics and centers to ensure a standardized, high-quality approach to care.
The 15 Top Health Systems study provides hospital administrators with important, evidence-based insights into the effectiveness of their leadership teams, organizational performance and management alignment. This research allows health systems to understand how they compare with peers and national benchmarks when it comes to quality of care, operations and patient satisfaction.
The public data that was evaluated includes Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) data and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Compare website. More information on this study can be found at https://fortune.com/2022/06/30/top-health-systems-2022-merative/