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HMC Launches "Top Performer" Awards

First Year HMC Showcases Excellent Work of Clients

NEEDHAM, MASS. – February 8, 2010 – The Healthcare Management Council, Inc. (HMC) named its 2009 eight “Top Performer” hospitals. In selecting the winners, HMC scored each hospital according to seven dimensions, or criteria, including cost per adjusted admission, overall profitability, and patient satisfaction. HMC believes these criteria enable hospitals to accurately measure how effectively they are delivering healthcare value.

This is the first year HMC has assembled a Top Performer list. “We wanted to document the excellent work our client hospitals are doing using benchmark data,” explained John Whittlesey, principal at HMC. “There was stiff competition among the top contenders,” he observed.

The 2009 Top Performer was Dixie Regional Medical Center (DRMC), a 245-bed referral center based in St. George, Utah. The other three Top Performers were St. Joseph Mercy Saline Hospital, based in Saline, Mich.; Howell, Mich.-based St. Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital; and American Fork Hospital, in American Fork, Utah.

For judging, HMC applied seven performance criteria. They are:

• Overall cost per adjusted admission in lowest one-half of peer group
• Overall quality score in best one-half of peer group based on the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) rankings
• High quality and low cost performance in the upper left quadrant versus peers
• Overall profitability > 5 percent
• Overall patient satisfaction score in best one-half of the peer group
• Overall cost per adjusted admission improved over previous benchmark
• Cited savings potential decreased from previous benchmark

We also gained some valuable insights,” Whittlesey said of the judging. “For instance, most of the Top Performers were part of health systems, and tended to be smaller-to-medium size hospitals, as opposed to big tertiary teaching facilities. Some people think big and complex is always better, and that’s not always the case.”

Other Top Performers

The “Honorable Mention” category included Sentara Leigh Hospital, in Norfolk, Va., and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, based in Provo, Utah. In the “Most Improved” category were Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, based in Williamsburg, Va., and the Greeley, Colo.-based North Colorado Medical Center.